Gurk Cathedral
Description
Gurk Cathedral is a Romanesque pillar basilica in Gurk, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The former cathedral and current co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk was built from 1140 to 1200, it is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Austria.
With its consecration in 1174, the grave of Saint Hemma of Gurk was relocated there from former Gurk Abbey, a Benedictine nunnery she had founded in 1043 and which was dissolved by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in 1070/72, in order to fund the newly established Gurk diocese and the construction of the cathedral. The cathedral chapter established in 1123 moved to Klagenfurt in 1787.
Construction
The elongated building has a westwork with two towers, a gallery, a crypt, and three apses. The crypt, with its 100 columns, is the oldest part of the cathedral. In the middle of the rural Gurktal, the imposing 60 m (200 ft) tall twin steeple of the cathedral can be seen from a very great distance.
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Street view
Reviews
The 12th century Gurk Cathedral is regarded as the most outstanding example of Romanesque architecture in Austria. The flat, austere exterior is dominated by twin west towers (135 feet high), to which onion domes were added in 1682.
The barrel-vaulted porch has a portal dating from 1200. It was enclosed and richly decorated with murals of biblical scenes and stained glass in 1348. The south portal has a sculpture of Christ the Savior and a lion and snake can be found on the east apse. The left wall of the nave is home to the Samson Doorway, from 1200.
The interior is decorated with a magnificent collection of frescoes dating from the 13th century, including depictions of St Christopher (c. 1250), the Downfall of Saul (c. 1380), and the Death and Assumption of the Virgin (c. 1390). There are also six painted wooden reliefs, which depict the legend of St Hemma.