KLAGENFURT, capital of the duchy of Carinthia, Austria, and seat of the provincial administration, financial direction, and court of appeal, is situated upon a plain at an elevation of 1450 feet above the sea-level, and about 40 miles north-north-west of Laibach, with which, as with Vienna, Gratz, Innsbruck, and other centres, it is connected by railway, in 46° 37' N. lat., 14° 19' E. long. Klagenfurt is for the most part well and symmetrically built, and comprises an inner town quadrangular in form, and four suburbs - St Veit (north), Viktring (south), Volkermarkt (east), and Villach (west), the last communicating with Lake Worth by means of the Lend Canal. Among the more noteworthy edifices are the parish church of St YEgidius (erected 1709), with a tower 298 feet in height ; the cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul (1582-93, burnt 1723, restored 1725) ; the churches of the Benedictines (1613), of the Capuchins (1646), and of the order of St Elizabeth (1710); and the fine structure standing in the Villach suburb, and belonging to the Protestant community. To these must be added the palace of the prince bishop of Gurk, originally built for the sisters of the emperor Joseph II., and containing in its chapel some fine•resco paintings completed in 1798 by the Carinthian artist Joseph von Pichler ; the municipal hospital ; the lunatic asylum ; the burg or castle, existing in its present form since 1777 ; and the Landhaus or house of assembly, dating from the end of the 1 lth century, and containing a museum of natural history, and the Klagenfurt Historical Society's library, and collection of minerals, antiquities, seals, paintings, and sculptures. The most interesting public monument is the great Lindwssrm or Dragon, standing in the principal square (1590). Among the many educational establishments of Klagenfurt are an upper and lower gymnasium with public library ; a theological seminary for priests ; monastic and conventual houses ; agricultural, industrial, technical, and mining schools ; and an asylum for the instruction of the deaf and dumb. The industrial establishments comprise factories for the preparation of white lead, tobacco, woollen cloth, muslins, silk fabrics, and leather ; also machine and iron foundries. Klagenfurt possesses, moreover, several banks, a chamber of industry and commerce, a central board of mining control, and a few scientific associations. The transit trade, which is considerable owing to the wealth of the mineral products of the province, is much facilitated by the position of Klagenfurt at a junction of the Crown-Prince-Rudolph and Austrian Southern Railways. The civil population in 1880 was 16,592 ; with the military, it was 18,749.

Upon the ZolHeld to the north of the city once stood the ancient Roman town of Virunum. In the middle of the 7th century the surrounding country was overrun by the Avars. During the Middle Ages Klagenfurt became the property of the crown, but by a patent of Maximilian I. of the 24th April 1518, it was conceded to the Carinthian estates, and has since then taken the place of St Veit as capital of Carinthia. In 1535, 1636, 1723, and 1796 Klagenfurt suffered from destructive fires, and in 1690 from the effects of an earthquake. On March 29, 1797, the French took the city, and upon the following day it was occupied by Napoleon as his headquarters. The fortifications constructed in 1580 were destroyed by the French in 1809, and the ground that they formerly occupied is now laid out as a public promenade.

See mraher and Jabornegg-Gamsenegg, Karntnerfiihrer, Gera, 1874 ; G. von Ankershofen, Handbuch der Geschichte des Herzogthums Karnten, Klagenfurt, 1837-74. bd. Umgebungskarte von Klagenfurt, Vienna, 1873.