Poetic Zammelsberg

Eternal stones for great language artists

View of the Zammelsberg church: this idyll at 1100 meters above sea level is home to the Poets' Grove and the Carinthian Poets' Trail.

(Bild: Kogler Christina Natascha/Christina Natascha Kogler)

You can meet poets on a walk along the Zammelsberg. Two more are commemorated with a memorial stone on Ascension Day.

The church of Zammelsberg near Weitensfeld overlooks the Gurktal valley at an altitude of 1100 meters. Not far from the church, the poet's grove attracts visitors to stones dedicated to great writers such as Goethe and Schiller, Fontane, Musil, Brecht and Lavant. The idyllic Carinthian Poets' Trail commemorates local writers. Every year on Assumption Day, memorial stones are added for other linguistic artists.

"Då sprudeln die Liadlan außa", explains Dieter Hölbling-Gauster of the St. Veiter Kreis fountain, which invites you to linger alongside numerous memorial stones in the grove.

(Bild: Kogler Christina Natascha/Christina Natascha Kogler)

At this year's 59th Zammelsberg meeting, a stone will be unveiled to mark the 100th birthday of Styrian worker-poet Karl Skala. Many of his poems have been set to music.

Flattner memorial prize

Authors have until October 1 to submit unpublished texts - poetry, haikus, prose, fairy tales... - on the subject of "today - tomorrow". The Dichtersteingemeinschaft awards the Herbert Flattner Memorial Prize, which commemorates Herbert Scheriau, born in Klagenfurt in 1933, who grew up on the Flatt near Pisweg and wrote stories and poems under this pseudonym. Submissions - maximum two pages, font size 12, one text per author - to: d.hoelbling @aon.at.

A stone for Johannes Golznig will be placed on the Carinthian Poets' Trail. Golznig, who was born in Weitensfeld in 1924 and grew up in Kalitsch near Feldkirchen, initially became a sailor and eventually retired as director of the Feldkirchen town council. He wrote poems, short stories and plays.

Poetry grove on the Zammelsberg: memorial stones are erected here to great word artists.

(Bild: Kreuzer Klaus/Kronen Zeitung)

A fixed point at the Zammelsberg meeting, which Dieter Hölbling-Gauster, chairman of the Zammelsberg Poets' Stone Society, has been organizing for 39 years, is the awarding of the honorary jug. This year's award goes to Herbert Valzacchi, who came to writing through his four children: he invented stories for them, which he then put down on paper. The Klagenfurt native writes prose and poetry as well as comedy short stories for children and adults. As chairman of the Klagenfurt Poets' Circle, the electrical engineer organizes writing workshops and readings.

Dieter Hölbling-Gauster at the poet's stone for Herbert Flattner, in whose name a memorial prize is awarded.

(Bild: Kogler Christina Natascha/Christina Natascha Kogler)

The 59th Zammelsberg Meeting begins on August 15 at 9 a.m. with a church service with music by Veitschtål Xång. From 10 a.m., readings, a book table and music will attract visitors to the Stromberger Inn. At 2 pm, the memorial stone for Johannes Golznig will be unveiled on the Carinthian Poets' Trail, at 2.30 pm the stone for Karl Skala will be unveiled in the Poets' Grove and at 3 pm Herbert Valzacchi will be awarded the honorary jug. Afterwards, the open singing with Ilse Storfer-Schmied begins.

Höchstes Marienfest

Duftende Kräuter und schöne Wallfahrt zum großen Frauentag

Mary has always been greatly venerated, which is expressed in over 30 Marian commemorations and feast days. The Catholic Church celebrates the highest Marian feast on August 15: the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven or, in shorter and more popular terms, the Assumption of Mary.

"Beautiful Madonna" from around 1320 in the Dominican church in Friesach: the sandstone statue is 1.70 meters tall, weighs 700 kilos and is a good 700 years old. It is considered one of the most artistically valuable Madonnas in Austria and is located in the largest church in Carinthia.

(Bild: Kogler Christina Natascha/Christina Natascha Kogler)

Since the fifth century, there has been evidence of a Marian festival on August 15, the day of the Virgin Mary, on which the Assumption was later celebrated. In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the "bodily assumption of Mary into heaven" a dogma. What sounds strange and disconcerting is intended to point to the wholeness of the human being, which consists of body and soul.

The customs associated with the feast are easier to grasp: Bouquets of herbs are blessed in the parishes. Legend has it that a wonderful scent of flowers and herbs rose from Mary's tomb at the moment of her assumption into heaven.

Our Lady at the high altar in Maria Wörth.

(Bild: Neithan90)

Another cherished tradition on Assumption Day in Carinthia is the boat procession on Lake Wörthersee, which is celebrating an anniversary this year: pilgrims have been crossing Lake Wörthersee with the statue of the Virgin Mary, which was brought from Fátima in Portugal in 1954, for 70 years. Music is played at the stations in Krumpendorf, Pörtschach, Velden and Maria Wörth. "Krone" herbalist Benedikt Felsinger preaches on the pilgrimage.

Protective mantle Madonna in the parish church in Maria Gail.

(Bild: Johann Jaritz CC BY-Sa 4.0)

The Krappfeld-Görtschitztal deanery invites you to the Fátima pilgrimage on August 13. Starting at 6.30 pm, the pilgrimage starts at the Lölling junction and leads to the Maria Moos church in Kirchberg near Klein St. Paul. Also on Tuesday, a deanery pilgrimage leads from Rosenbichl (6.30 pm) near Pulst to Maria Pulst.

A foot pilgrimage leads from Keutschach (8.30 am) via Reifnitz to the church of St. Anna on August 15.

In Kliening in Lavanttal, a Fátima Mass will be celebrated on August 13 (7 pm) and new priest Michael Rossian will give his first blessing.

The "Musica Sacra" series presents Schubert's Mass in E flat on Ascension Day in Klagenfurt Cathedral. Paintings by ten amateur artists can be seen in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Villach until the end of August.