Parish church Tower

You climb more than 225 steps to reach the panoramic platform. And from there, an extraordinary view opens up: above the rooftops of the city, over Renaissance Klagenfurt.

And Klagenfurt, despite the political events that often overshadow it, is, incredibly, the only planned and fully completed Renaissance city in all Austria. This architectural richness, this Italian character, can truly be understood only from above. If you are lucky, you can see as far as 160 kilometres: from the Petzen, in the far south-east of Carinthia, all the way to the west, towards the Carnic Alps and the Dobratsch, where the Italian border begins.

At platform level there is also a small museum, where, through displays and installations, you can discover the history of the old tower keepers. A contemporary voice — that of the last tower keeper — tells the story through screens and objects. And, if you are lucky, falcons fly around the tower. Every spring kestrels nest here. In German they are actually called “tower falcons”, because they build their nests on towers. They are small falcons and, if you were a mouse in the meadow below the tower, you might think you were safe, hidden in the grass. But you would be wrong: these birds can reach a speed of 300 kilometres per hour before turning you into their breakfast. It is a spectacle of nature that you can experience from up here. When they spread their wings, the falcons glide for hundreds of metres. And at sunset they seem to glide along the rays of the setting sun. The sunset from the tower is deeply romantic. If you do not want to fall in love, perhaps you should avoid going up there in the evening. Up there on the tower, you can also learn the story of the last tower keeper, Helene Reichel. She raised six children up there. Her husband was illiterate. Hers was a hard life, and yet all her children obtained a qualification. The youngest even became a lecturer in nuclear physics at the University of Vienna, without receiving any scholarship. These are the kinds of stories one encounters here, in the tower. Go up! If you can manage the 225 steps... although, to tell the truth, they feel like only 50.

I too worked here for six and a half years, as the only full-time tower keeper in all of Austria. And I can only recommend it to you: it is a place where you meet the love of your life. I met and loved my wife right here. My predecessor married a visitor. And the one before him did too. So, try your luck up on the tower. It seems to work.