Völkermarkt

Main square

Coat of arms

Völkermarkt

Location within Austria

Coordinates: 46°40′N 14°38′E / 46.667°N 14.633°ECoordinates: 46°40′N 14°38′E / 46.667°N 14.633°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Valentin Blaschitz (SPÖ)

Area

• Total

137.33 km² (53.02 sq mi)

Elevation

462 m (1,516 ft)

Population (1 January 2016)

• Total

10,949

• Density

80/km² (210/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postal code

9100

Area code

04232

Vehicle registration

Website

www.stadtgemeinde-voelkermarkt.at

Völkermarkt (Slovene: Velikovec) is a town of about 11,000 inhabitants in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the administrative capital of Völkermarkt District. It is located within the Drava valley east of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt, north of the Karavanke mountain range.

The municipality of Völkermarkt comprises 26 Katastralgemeinden (Slovene names in brackets):

The area, once part of the ancient Noricum province, in the 7th century was resettled by Slavic tribes, who lived within the Principality of Carantania. The migration concentrated around the former Roman settlement of Juenna (near present-day Globasnitz in an area later called Podjuna in Slovene or Jauntal in German. Up to today, significant parts of the population refer to themselves as Carinthian Slovenes.

The descendants of Count Siegfried I of Sponheim, who about 1035 had come to the Duchy of Carinthia as a follower of Emperor Conrad II, had a trading post erected at the site about 1090, where a church was built soon afterwards at the behest of the archbishop of Salzburg. In 1217 Duke Bernhard von Spanheim gave orders to build a bridge across the Drava River and had the settlement rebuilt in 1231. Völkermarkt was granted town privileges in the 13th century already and developed quickly as an important centre for trade in iron from the surrounding ore mines.

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Wikipedia