GURK, Diocese of. – An Austrian city and diocese comprising the entire federal territory of Carinthia (9,533 sq. km.), with a population of 497,000, of whom 455,000 are Catholic. The areas ceded in 1918 are administered by Maribor, Ljubljana, and Udine. The Slovenian minority, about 10%, enjoys full religious and cultural freedom. The diocese includes 26 deaneries and 327 parishes, served by 372 diocesan priests and 122 religious, a seminary, 20 male and 33 female religious communities (1949).
HISTORY. – Within the present diocesan territory, the sees of Virunum and Teurnia existed in the 4th–6th centuries. After
a Roman temple was superimposed upon a Celtic one, and above them rose the Romanesque-Gothic church of St. Ulrich, etc. For the Roman period, Teurnia, Virunum, the ancient “refuges,” etc. (v. AUSTRIA, History of Christianity).
Some churches date from the Carolingian era, such as Kamburg, where an imperial palace (888) stood, and St. Peter in Friesach; many others, even in alpine and rural settings, have a pre-Romanesque or Romanesque core (Flattnitz, an alpine Romanesque domed church; V. ibid., col. 427 ff.); the wealth of frescoes is enormous, often found even in scattered churches; suffice it to mention the two volumes by W. Frodl, *Die romanische Wandmalerei in Kärnten* (Klagenfurt 1942) and *Die gotische Wandmalerei in Kärnten* (ibid. 1946).
In place of an earlier church built by St. Emma (d. 1045), the first bishops erected a grand cathedral (c. 1160–1220, with a crypt, two towers 60 m high, an atrium, and above it the bishop’s chapel) in Romanesque style, its exterior clad in well-cut marble blocks (highly significant for the study of masons’ marks; cf. J. Löw, *Die romanischen Steinmetzzeichen am Gurker Dom*, in *Carinthia* 1, 1930, p. 1 ff.). The crypt measures 20 x 20 m., with 100 marble columns, the sarcophagus of the foundress St. Emma (1174), remains of frescoes, etc. The interior, with three naves and tall piers, is today vaulted in Gothic style, partly painted (late 15th–early 16th century). Many frescoes survive, including St. Christopher (c. 1380), the 24 Elders (c. 1480), etc. Six large carved and painted wooden panels depict scenes from the life and miracles of St. Emma (c. 1500, L. Pambstel), rendered with stark realism. The grand high altar, in gilded wood, stands 16 m high, with over 76 life-size figures; at its center is the Assumption (by M. Hönel, 1626–32). The altar of the Holy Cross, in lead, features the celebrated Pietà by G. R. Donner (1741), whose panels also adorn the monumental pulpit. The main portal, carved in wood and painted (c. 1218), is noteworthy, as are countless minor sacred objects.
Yet more important are three major pictorial cycles preserved: 1) Romanesque (1220, restored in 1268) in the bishop’s chapel, depicting the Glory of Christ and Mary (the Throne of Solomon), with a painted window of the period; 2) Early Gothic (c. 1349) in the atrium, with scenes from the Old and New Testaments; 3) Gothic (1458, Konrad of Friesach), painted on canvas (10 meters per side), with 100 panels—half Old Testament, half New Testament scenes—and serving as a Lenten veil (the largest known) to cover the high altar.
Notable also is Strassburg, the episcopal residence until 1787, a town united to the grand castle-palace (Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque), with a collegiate church housing the bishops’ tombs, and the Gothic Holy Spirit Church (1337), domed, for the episcopal hospital. At Böckstein is the summer residence, by G. G. Hagenauer (1780), a celebrated structure *uno sub tecto*.
Friesach is singular: from the 8th to 1803 it belonged to Salzburg, fortified with walls, a moat, and four castles, including Petersberg with a church already extant in 927; a grand Romanesque collegiate church; the first Dominican convent beyond the Alps (1217, St. Hyacinth) with an enormous Gothic church (70 m long), seat and hospital of the Teutonic Order from 1213, etc.
Principal shrines: Maria Saal, founded c. 870 by the chaplain St. Modestus, buried there, today a grand fortified complex; Maria Wörth, on the eponymous lake, founded by Bishop Waldone of Freising c. 900, who deposited (Carolingian crypt) the relics of SS. Primus and Felician; the present Gothic structure dates to the 14th century. Heiligenblut (1,301 m), world-famous for its panorama at the foot of the Grossglockner (3,708 m); the present Gothic church (1483) is notable for a relic of the Precious Blood, said to have been brought from the East by St. Briccius. Famous is the grand panel in the church of Ober-Vellach, by Jan Scorel (1520). Other shrines: Maria Rain, recorded in 927, now entirely Baroque; St. Leonhard, with a French-style Gothic cathedral built by St. Otto, Bishop of Bamberg (1106–39), encircled by an enormous iron chain (storied windows of the period). Luggau (from 1635 Servites of Mary), Maria Hilf (Guttaring), 1725–27, dominating the village from its hill.
Nor should one overlook, as special features, the many ossuaries (*Kärner*), widespread and often highly characteristic, with underground bone repositories and abyss-like chapels above; Romanesque structures are generally round, Gothic ones hexagonal or octagonal. The ossuary of Pisweg is entirely frescoed (12th century), that of Metnitz has a famous Dance of Death on its exterior (c. 1500). In the eastern part, since the Turkish invasions (peaking 1470–1529), many fortified churches survive, e.g. Diex, Hohenfeistritz, etc.
Among the many castles, Hochstorwitz is noteworthy for its picturesque ensemble of 14 gate-towers, palace, and church; its present state dates to 1570–86 and it belongs to the Counts Khevenhüller. – See pl. LXXXIX.