Klagenfurt Cathedral

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

Built by the Protestant community of Klagenfurt under mayor Christoph Windisch and consecrated in 1581, the church changed hands with the Counter-Reformation when the Jesuits took possession in 1600 and rededicated it to Peter and Paul. After fire destroyed the building it was rebuilt in 1724, and in 1787 it was designated the cathedral of the Diocese of Gurk under Bishop Franz Xaver von Salm-Reifferscheid.