Discover Metnitz

Metnitz offers a distinct cultural focus for your stay: at the Museum of Traditions, you can discover the Metnitztal “Kinisingen” and traditional rural hand weaving; the parish church and its charnel house offer another perspective on architectural history and the Dance of Death. The Metnitz Circular Hiking Trail, Section 1, also starts at the museum and runs through the market square. This gives you different ways to explore Metnitz: museum exhibits and crafts, the ensemble of church and charnel house, or a hiking route that starts at the museum.

Museum of Traditions: Kinisingen and hand weaving

The Museum of Traditions displays the original, valuable crowns and star of the Metnitztal “Kinisingen.” Since 2014, the tradition has been included on the national list of intangible cultural heritage. The crowns and star give the custom tangible objects, while its listing adds the context of its status as intangible cultural heritage.

Another focus is traditional rural hand weaving, which visitors can learn about at the museum. An original, working loom is also on display there. This brings the craft technique and a specific tool used in the work together. If you are interested in crafts, you can focus your visit on both hand weaving and the loom as an exhibit.

Parish church and charnel house: architectural features and the Dance of Death

Metnitz Parish Church is a Gothic church dating from the 14th to the 16th century, with Romanesque walls. These features offer different architectural perspectives: the church’s historical and stylistic classification, and the Romanesque construction of its walls. The building therefore cannot be reduced to a single period.

The parish church complex includes a 14th-century charnel house with Dance of Death depictions dating to around 1500. The charnel house stands immediately south of the church, at an elevation of 850 m. It is a small, octagonal building with a steep pyramidal roof and a roof lantern. Its location places it in relation to the parish church; its design and roof provide further specific features that help you identify it.

The Dance of Death frescoes formed a frieze on the outer wall, about 1.20 m wide and 50 m long in total. This makes it possible to understand the wall motif as an extended sequence of images. In 1989, Walter Campidell and Dietrich Wiedergut made a copy of the Dance of Death using the fresco technique. The depictions dating to around 1500 and the 1989 copy represent two different points in time: the approximate date of the Dance of Death and the later creation of its copy.

Performances of the Metnitz Dance of Death play take place in the churchyard between the charnel house and the parish church. Alongside the Dance of Death depictions on the charnel house, there is also the Dance of Death play, performed at a precisely specified location. If attending the play is part of your travel plans, check the dates in advance.

Hiking trail starting at the museum

The Metnitz Circular Hiking Trail, Section 1, starts at the Museum of Traditions and runs through the market square. It is also known as Hiking Trail 6 or the Hemma Trail. These different names refer to the same route and can be useful when planning if you come across one of them. The stated reference points are the start at the museum and the route through the market square. This lets you consider a hike as part of your plans while deciding whether, that day, you are more interested in visiting the museum, exploring the architecture or following the trail.

Discover more destinations: Liebenfels, Friesach, Eberstein, Hüttenberg, Kraig, Launsdorf, Flattnitz, Althofen.

Go to the overview of destinations in the wider area: Sankt Veit an der Glan.