Gurk Cathedral

Gurk Cathedral
  • Pfarr- und ehemalige Domkirche Mariae Himmelfahrt (German)
  • Dom zu Gurk (German)
  • Bazilika v Krki (Slovene)
Gurk Cathedral is located in Austria
Gurk Cathedral
Gurk Cathedral
LocationGurk, Carinthia
CountryAustria
DenominationCatholic
History
Foundedc. 1140
Founder(s)Bishop Roman I of Gurk
Consecrated1200
Architecture
Functional statusCathedral
StyleRomanesque
Administration
DioceseDiocese of Gurk
Clergy
Bishop(s)Josef Marketz
Gurk Cathedral

Gurk Cathedral (German: Dom zu Gurk, officially Pfarr- und ehemalige Domkirche Mariae Himmelfahrt, Slovene: Bazilika v Krki) is a Romanesque pillar basilica in Gurk, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The former cathedral and current co-cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Gurk was built from 1140 to 1200. It is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Austria.[1]

With its consecration in 1174, the grave of Saint Hemma of Gurk was relocated there from former Gurk Abbey, a Benedictine nunnery she had founded in 1043 and which was dissolved by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in 1070/72, in order to fund the newly established Gurk diocese and the construction of the cathedral. The cathedral chapter established in 1123 moved to Klagenfurt in 1787.

Construction

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The elongated building has a westwork with two towers, a gallery, a crypt, and three apses. The crypt, with its 100 columns, is the oldest part of the cathedral. In the middle of the rural Gurktal, the imposing 60 m (200 ft) tall twin steeple of the cathedral can be seen from a very great distance.

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References

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  1. ^ UNESCO, Gurk Cathedral
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46°52′30″N 14°17′37″E / 46.87500°N 14.29361°E / 46.87500; 14.29361