The Zollfeld plain north of Klagenfurt is the site of Virunum, the Roman capital of the province of Noricum, which occupied roughly modern Austria east of the Brenner. At its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, Virunum had a forum, amphitheater, and a population that may have reached 20,000. The plain also holds the location where medieval Carinthian dukes were installed at a Roman column repurposed as the Prince’s Stone, used from the 7th century onward in a ceremony witnessed and documented by the future Pope Pius II in 1444. The stone itself is now in the Landesmuseum Rudolfinum in Klagenfurt. The plain is 10 km north of Klagenfurt, free to visit, and most interesting in combination with the Maria Saal pilgrimage church directly adjacent, which has Roman inscribed stones built into its exterior walls.
archaeological site in Maria Saal
Zollfeld
The Zollfeld plain north of Klagenfurt is where the Roman provincial capital of Noricum, Virunum, stood from the 1st to the 4th century CE. The settlement was one of the largest Roman cities north of the Alps, with a forum, amphitheater, temples, and a population that may have reached 20,000 people at its peak.
- Type
- archaeological site
- Destination
- Maria Saal
- Cost
- Free to visit
- Founded
- 1st century
- Era
- Roman
- Address
- 9063 Maria Saal
- Coordinates
- 46.6969, 14.3493