Metnitz: Discover Customs, the Dance of Death and Trails

Metnitz combines an impressive cultural history with a circular hiking trail that begins directly at the Museum of Customs. Those looking for a mix of distinctive local stories, traditional crafts and exercise for their holiday will find several different starting points for planning their trip here. You can consciously decide whether to focus more on historic buildings, living traditions or a hike through the town.

Customs and hand weaving at the museum

The Metnitz Museum of Customs is dedicated to the region's cultural heritage and displays the original valuable crowns and the star of the Metnitztaler “Kinisingen”. Since 2014, this has been included on the national list of intangible cultural heritage. This gives visitors a tangible connection to a tradition that extends beyond a single exhibit and opens up a unique way of experiencing the history of Metnitz.

In the same museum, you can also learn about traditional rural hand weaving. An original, fully functional loom is on display there. This focus offers a particularly good topic of conversation for families with different interests: while the crowns and the star tell of a distinctive regional tradition, the loom illustrates a traditional craft practice. This creates a museum visit with several different facets, without requiring you to limit yourself to a single form of culture.

Parish church, ossuary and Dance of Death

Another cultural highlight is Metnitz Parish Church. It is a Gothic church dating from the 14th to the 16th century and has Romanesque walls. The complex includes a 14th-century ossuary with Dance of Death depictions dating from around 1500. The small octagonal building is located immediately south of the parish church, stands at an elevation of 850 m and has a steep pyramid roof with a roof lantern.

The ossuary's Dance of Death frescoes formed a frieze approximately 1.20 m wide and 50 m long in total on the exterior wall. Walter Campidell and Dietrich Wiedergut created a copy of the Dance of Death in fresco technique in 1989. These details make the ossuary a place where architecture, visual art and religious representation can be viewed together. During the Metnitz Dance of Death performance, the performances take place in the churchyard between the ossuary and the parish church. In Metnitz, the Dance of Death therefore has a staged form in addition to its architectural and artistic aspects.

A circular hiking trail for a different pace of travel

If you would like to focus on more active pursuits after your museum and cultural programme, the first section of the Metnitz Circular Hiking Trail begins at the Metnitz Museum of Customs and leads via the market square. The trail is also known as Hiking Trail 6 or the Hemma Trail.

Choose a holiday apartment and accommodation to suit your travel plans

When searching for a holiday apartment in Metnitz, you can first consider which of these experiences should shape your holiday. If the museum, church and Dance of Death are the main focus, accommodation in Metnitz is a suitable starting point for a culturally focused trip. If you would also like to include the circular hiking trail, your personal daily schedule should leave enough time for the route via the market square. The decision to choose a holiday house or holiday apartment is therefore not determined by general promises, but by the experiences you actually want to include in your trip.

Metnitz is therefore suitable for planning a trip that does not merely look for accommodation, but clarifies the character of the stay in advance: traditional hand weaving, the Metnitztaler “Kinisingen”, Gothic and Romanesque architectural elements, Dance of Death depictions or a hike. Choose your accommodation according to your desired pace and use the town's different facets as the foundation for your holiday days.

Discover more destinations in the surrounding area

For further travel planning, you can also consider Friesach, Glödnitz, Kaindorf, Hüttenberg, Eberstein, Sand, Seebauer and Weitensfeld im Gurktal as additional travel destinations.

For the overview of the wider area: Sankt Veit An Der Glan.