Weitensfeld im Gurktal

Weitensfeld im Gurktal, Carinthia, market town in the district of Sankt Veit an der Glan, alt. 702 m, pop. 2,694, area 95.74 km², in the upper Gurk Valley. - Forest authorities; production of alcoholic drinks, larch resin refinery, wood processing industry, some tourism during summer. - Planned and built next to the village of Altenmarkt (today a cadastral district) around 1200, late-Gothic parish church (formerly fortified church, tower preserved), choir (14^th century), nave (16^th century), large frescoes in the southern chapel (early 15^th century); Gothic charnel house; Romanesque filial church of St. Maria Magdalena (12^th century) with frescoes (14^th - 16^th centuries), altars (17^th century), oldest preserved stained glass window ("Magdalenenscheibe", in Klagenfurt Provincial Museum); Tattermannbrunnen fountain (1947) with bust and trough from the 18^th century; late-Gothic Zammelberg parish church (1490) with defensive wall, altered in Baroque style; Zweinitz and Thurnhof Castle (documented mention in 1140, present complex 15^th - 16^th centuries). Whitsun custom of "Kranzelreiten" commemorating the victims of a plague epidemic.