The Dragon (Lindwurm)

In Neuer Platz stands the Dragon — the Lindwurm. And of course there is a legend about it. It is said that, long ago, when Klagenfurt was still surrounded by marshland, a monster lived in those waters. A terrible creature that devoured oxen and threatened men. The inhabitants decided they had to get rid of it and came up with an idea. They built a stone tower, hung a chain with a large hook from it, and on that hook, they fixed an ox as bait. The monster, hungry, did not keep them waiting. It swallowed the ox, thus becoming caught in the chain. Then the fearless sons of Klagenfurt — at that time, the daughters did not yet take part in such exploits — faced it and killed it. Thus, the legend of Klagenfurt was born. Today, the Dragon still stands there, in Neuer Platz, immortalised as a statue. And much of the city’s history revolves around it.

Yes, almost everyone who arrives in Klagenfurt wants to see the Dragon. And if you look at it closely, it does not even seem that frightening. On the contrary, there is something curious about it: a small, curled tail, really rather charming. Every time I pass by, I look at it and think: “How sweet that tail is…” — and I always check that it is still there. Because over time it has often been damaged. About fifteen years ago it was restored, after an act of vandalism. But it had already happened several times throughout history: during the Napoleonic wars a French soldier damaged it, and after the Second World War a British soldier, in an attempt to take a souvenir photo, sat right there and broke it. And I always find it amusing that such a large creature should have such a fragile spot.

The Dragon is a large sculpture, made in the first half of the sixteenth century, carved in Kreuzbergl slate. This stone is quarried only two or three kilometres from the city. The quarry can still be seen today and a sample of it can also be seen in the museum. There is a room in the museum where the stone is displayed, showing its original appearance. And there is a fascinating detail: we do not know who the sculptor of the Dragon was. But in the museum, there is the skull of a woolly rhinoceros. It is the skull of a prehistoric animal discovered a very long time ago in the so-called “Dragon’s Pit”, in the Zollfeld. If you compare the two skulls — that of the sculpture and that of the rhinoceros — the similarities are striking. Perhaps the sculptor, centuries ago, used that very skull as a model.