Klagenfurt Cathedral
Klagenfurter Dom · Dom- und Stadtpfarrkirche Hll. Petrus und Paulus · Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul
About
Klagenfurt Cathedral, known in German as the Dom- und Stadtpfarrkirche Hll. Petrus und Paulus, anchors the old city of Klagenfurt as both diocesan seat and principal parish church. Its origins lie in the Reformation: the building was commissioned by Christoph Windisch, the city's first mayor, and was completed in 1581 as a place of Protestant worship dedicated to the Holy Trinity. At the time it was the largest Protestant church anywhere in Austria.
With the Counter-Reformation, the building passed in 1600 to the Jesuits, who rededicated it to Saints Peter and Paul. The order shaped the church's later liturgical and architectural life until a devastating fire reduced it to ruins, forcing a thorough rebuilding completed in 1724. The structure that worshippers know today reflects this Baroque reconstruction layered over the earlier Renaissance foundations.
In 1787, Bishop Franz Xaver von Salm-Reifferscheid raised the church to the rank of cathedral for the Diocese of Gurk, transferring the see from its older home and giving Klagenfurt the dignity of a bishop's seat. It continues today as a place of regular parish life and diocesan liturgy in the heart of Carinthia.
History
Klagenfurt's first mayor, Christoph Windisch, commissioned the church for the city's Protestant congregation, and it was consecrated to the Holy Trinity in 1581 as the largest Protestant church in Austria at that time. The Counter-Reformation brought it into Jesuit hands in 1600, when it was rededicated to Saints Peter and Paul, and a fire that later gutted the building required a full rebuilding completed in 1724. In 1787 Bishop Franz Xaver von Salm-Reifferscheid made it the cathedral of the Diocese of Gurk.
Significance
The banded bell tower rises over Klagenfurt's Domplatz, its tiered green spire visible across the old town. As the seat of the Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt, the cathedral remains the spiritual centre of Catholic life in Carinthia, still holding daily and Sunday Mass more than four centuries after its Protestant founding.
Architecture
Baroque, following the 1724 rebuilding after fire, raised on the Renaissance-era foundations of the original 1581 Protestant church
Visiting
Daily worship
| Weekday Mass (Kapitelmesse, in the chapel) | 07:00 to | |
| Monday evening Mass (chapel) | 18:00 to | |
| Saturday vigil Mass | 18:00 to | |
| Sunday and holy-day Mass | 10:00 to | |
| Sunday and holy-day Mass | 19:00 to |
Hours
Hours not listed.
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Through the four pathways
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Festivals & Events
- Invalid Date
Patrozinium of Saints Peter and Paul
Invalid Date · annual · next: 29 June 2027
The cathedral's patronal feast day, marking the solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, who have been its dedicatees since the Jesuits took possession of the church in 1600.
Gallery
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