Maria Saal: Discover culture and trails

Maria Saal offers several distinct focal points for your stay: the Maria Saalerin, the Carinthian Open-Air Museum Maria Saal, the cathedral, and marked trails and tours in the Zollfeld. For planning, it is worth treating culture and outdoor activities as separate themes. This lets you decide whether to focus on a particular work of art, the significance of the museum, the Hemma Pilgrimage Trail or an outdoor route. If you are looking for a hotel in Maria Saal, choosing one of these themes can help you plan the focus of your stay.

Cathedral, bell and museum

The Maria Saalerin is the largest bell in Carinthia. This comparison places it at the state level and makes the bell a specific cultural topic. The Carinthian Open-Air Museum Maria Saal is considered the oldest museum of its kind in Austria. This statement refers to museums of its kind, not to a general ranking by age among all Austrian museums. The two superlatives refer to different things: the bell’s size within Carinthia and the museum’s age within its museum category. They therefore offer different points of reference for culturally minded travellers, rather than a shared ranking.

In Maria Saal Cathedral, the vault of the central nave features a cycle of frescoes painted in 1490 by an unknown artist. It depicts the genealogy of Christ according to Matthew. A cycle of frescoes is a related series of wall paintings; the genealogical theme gives the depiction its family-tree structure. The cathedral is also an important stop on the Hemma Pilgrimage Trail. This means a specific work of art and a connection to a pilgrimage route offer two distinct focal points for your stay.

Trails and tours

There are marked hiking and cycling trails in Maria Saal. The Vierbergeweg crosses the Zollfeld, passing Maria Saal Cathedral and the Herzogstuhl. This gives you two scales to consider when planning: the general network of marked trails in Maria Saal and a specifically named route through the Zollfeld. The cathedral and the Herzogstuhl are identified as points of reference along the Vierbergeweg. This lets you distinguish the general trail network from the explicitly named route through the Zollfeld.

DIE ZOLLFELDER KULTURKUTSCHE is a seasonal tour in an open horse-drawn carriage and lasts about three hours. It visits several sights in the Zollfeld. Its mode of transport sets it apart from hiking and cycling trails, while the approximate duration gives you a concrete guide for planning your day. As the tour is seasonal and dates and reservations may change, check both in advance.

A themed trail is enhanced with audio stations, QR codes and historical insights. This sets it apart from the carriage ride, which is defined by the open horse-drawn carriage and its approximate duration: here, the focus is on audio and digital ways to access historical content; there, on the ride as a mode of transport and its timeframe. You can choose according to the format you prefer.

Discover more destinations: Sekirn, Krumpendorf, Ferlach, Auen, Poggersdorf, Sekull, Keutschach Am See, Lukowitz

For the main travel overview: Klagenfurt-Land.