Group 3 | Station 19 – Friesach QR Project

Group 3 | Station 19 | Virgilienberg Church Ruins

Former Virgilienberg Church (Old Sketch)

Virgilienberg Church Ruins

The Virgilienberg church ruins are located on a hill in the south of the Friesach town between the “Teutonic Order Church” and the “Holy Blood Church”.

The site was once a fortified provostry with a church.

Church Ruins

Apart from sparse remains of the provost’s building in the south of the church, only the walls of the former three-bay choir with a 5/8 end remain. The walls are supported by double-stepped buttresses.

The two- and three-part tracery windows are still relatively well preserved.

Round mouldings are still intact above figural and ornamental consoles that once supported the vault.

History

– As the patron saint of the church was St Virgil, it cannot have been consecrated before his canonisation in 1233 CE.

– Hartwig is named as its first provost in 1240.

– In the second half of the 13th century, the office of vice-chancellor passed into the hands of the provosts. The provostry was in possession of a library of European standing.

– In 1309, the provostry was ravaged by fire for the first time. The walls that exist today date from the reconstruction of the church.

– The provostry was abandoned in 1606.

– After another fire in 1752, only the choir of the church was rebuilt in 1754.

– The church was deconsecrated in 1786.

– The final decay of the church began after the last fire in 1816.

– Although work began in 1894 to secure the ruins of the church, the triumphal arch collapsed in 1926.

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