Maria Saal Attractions

1.5km/1mi north of Maria Saal, on the right of the road, stands the ancient Carinthian Ducal Throne (Kärtner Herzogstuhl), surrounded by an iron railing. This double throne, on which the Dukes of Carinthia granted fiefs and gave legal judgments, is crudely constructed of old Roman stones.

North of Maria Saal the Carinthian Open-Air Museum has been laid out. Old peasant houses from all parts of Carinthia show what life was like in years gone by. In addition there are demonstrations of skilled crafts (blacksmiths, weavers, shoemakers and wood- turners) as well as a rural inn and a bric-à-brac shop.

2km/1.25mi west of the Carinthian Open-Air Museum lies the village of Karnburg (508m/1,667ft); its parish church, originally the chapel of a Carolingian palace, is Carinthia's oldest church (ninth C.). Nearby stood the historical "Princes' Stone" (Fürstenstein; now in the provincial museum at Klagenfurt).

From Karnburg and from the main road north of Maria Saal there is a road to the Ulrichsberg (1,015m/3,330ft), known to the Romans as Mons Carantanus which gave its name to Kärnten (Carinthia), the site of a Noric sanctuary. This site was later occupied by a Gothic church (now in ruins), and it is now a memorial to the 1920 plebiscite (when a majority voted to remain part of Austria) and to the dead of both world wars. From the top there are extensive views.

To the north of the Carinthian Ducal Throne extends the Zollfeld, a wide expanse of meadowland in which much material - including building remains and the "Prunn Cross" (Prunner Kreuz) - has been recovered from the site of the Roman town of Virunum; the finds are now in the provincial museum at Klagenfurt.