Group 1 | Station 4A – Friesach QR Project

Group 1 | Station 4A | Friesach’s Medieval Fortifications (East and North Sections)

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The Town’s Fortifications

Friesach’s fortifications, built around 1300 CE, are one of the best preserved medieval city fortifications in Austria.

The town fortifications consist of:
– a curtain wall (with a height of 10 to 11 metres and a thickness of 1.40 to 1.50 metres)
– an outer bailey (with a width of up to 9 metres)
– a crenellated outer wall of the bailey
– a moat (10 metres deep, 15 metres wide and 820 metres long)
– an outer moat wall.

Five fortified gates provided access to medieval Friesach:
– the “Neumarkter Tor” in the north
– the “Olsator” in the east
– the “St. Veiter Tor” in the south
– the “Heidentor” in the south-west
– the partially preserved “Sacktor” in the west.

Friesach’s First Defence Wall

Around the year 1200 CE, the town was surrounded by a much longer defence wall (Friesach’s first defence wall). The walled area at that time was almost twice as large as today’s town centre. It was a simple fortification with a curtain wall and a ditch.

The Dominican monastery was originally within the town’s outer wall.

The older defence wall led from Virgilienberg in the south to a point about 80 metres outside the current moat wall, past the Dominican monastery, up to Lavant Castle. There was an extension to Geiersberg Castle at the northernmost point of the city.

Friesach’s Second Defence Wall

At the end of the 13^th century, after three conquests and pillages, the first defence wall proved inadequate, the fortification system was redesigned, most of which has been preserved to this day.

Four Castles

In the Middle Ages there were four castles in Friesach:
Ruins of a fortified church are located on the Virgilienberg mountain. There are no secular buildings to be seen today, but one can assume that there was a castle here that once served as the residence of the Bishop of Gurk.

Three castles on the western mountain slope high above the town, still fascinate visitors today:
– The largest fortress, Petersberg Castle, was commissioned by the Salzburg archbishops.
– A little below to the north, the inconspicuous Lavant Castle was the residence of the bishops of St. Andrä in the Lavanttal, from the 12th to the 17th century.
– Geiersberg Castle, which was built in the 12th century, sits on a hill north of the town.

All castles were integrated into the city fortifications, consisting of walls and towers. The town’s moat still carries water today and surrounds the town in the north, east and south, over a length of 820 metres. Towards the west, on a mountain slope between Virgilienberg and Petersberg, the Rotturm fortifications were built and connected to defence walls.

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Labelled Images | Five Obstacles

The enemy had to cross five obstacles to enter the medieval town.

Five obstacles:
1. outer moat wall
2. moat
3. outer bailey wall
4. bailey
5. curtain wall

Map: 4A
Stations: 2 | 3A | 3B | 4A | 25