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Klagenfurt, capital of Carinthia, lies on the edge of the wide Klagenfurt basin, which is bounded on the south by the wooded ridge of the Sassnitz range, with the Karawanken rearing up behind. Although Klagenfurt is an important traffic junction and a busy industrial and commercial town, it has an attractive old quarter with picturesque little
lanes and historic old buildings. It is also now a university town. Founded about 1161 as a market village, Klagenfurt was granted its municipal charter in 1252. The old town was destroyed by fire in 1514, whereupon the provincial Estates of Carinthia petitioned the Emperor Maximilian I to grant them possession of the now impoverished little town. It was duly transferred to them in 1518, and Klagenfurt then displaced St Veit an der Glan as capital of the province and began to expand. Between 1527 and 1558 a canal was constructed to supply water for the moat surrounding the town, and this still links Klagenfurt with the Wörther See. The line of the old fortifications is marked by a circuit of streets, the Ring, around the old part of the town, which today has many parks and gardens. Klagenfurt is the birthplace of Robert Musil (1880-1942), who became world-famous for his novel "The Man without Qualities", and of Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-73), well known for her lyric writings. A literary competition is held every year in Klagenfurt.