World War One Sites - The NETWORLD Database

Chapel of Peace at Zollnersee, Carinthia, Austria

In memory of the fallen soldiers of World War One, the Chapel of Peace at Zollnersee in the Carnic Alps, located at approx. 1,750 metres above sea level, was inaugurated in 1987. The Italian student of architecture Marina Muser carried out the first planning steps for constructing the Chapel of Peace in 1980. Before construction of the chapel, a wrought iron cross was erected on the Kleine Trieb (2,199 m) in the year 1978. Members of the Austrian Alpine Association section of the ÖAV set it up together with the Austrian Dellach im Gailtal comradeship association as a sign of admonition for peace.

Austria, Carinthia

Type of WWI-heritage

  • War monument

Dimensions

No information available.

State of repair/preservation

The chapel is in good condition.

Historical WWI Context

In memory of the fallen soldiers of World War One, the Chapel of Peace at Zollnersee in the Carnic Alps was inaugurated in 1987. In 1980 the Italian student of architecture Marina Muser carried out the first planning steps for construction of the Chapel of Peace. The remains of walls from former World War I accommodation served as construction material for the walls. The chapel was renovated step-by-step from 2012 onwards.
The Corinthian Front formed a section of the so-called Southwestern Front – the front situated between Austria-Hungary and Italy from May 1915 onwards. It stretched from the Swiss border to the Adriatic coast along a linear length of around 600 kilometres. On the Corinthian side, the Corinthian Front stretched approximately 115 kilometres from the national border between Tyrol and Carinthia at the height of the settlement of Maria Luggau to Carinthia/Mt. Nero (2,244 m).
On this part of the front between 1915 and 1918, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and German soldiers mainly faced each other, primarily in high-Alpine terrain and usually at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,900 metres above sea level.
In the area around the Zollnersee, the Zollnerseehütte and the Chapel of Peace, many traces of World War I (e.g. trenches, caverns and tunnel systems) can still be found.

State of legal protection

The chapel is not heritage-protected.

Owner

No information available.

Kind of cultural use of WWI

The “Open-Air Museum of the Mountain War 1915–1917” on the Plöckenpass can be visited for free. For special occasions, the Dolomitenfreunde association also offers organised walking tours in the open-air museum.
Further information:
www.dolomitenfreunde.at


The Chapel of Peace at Zollnersee is located on the Karnischen Höhenweg (No. 403), that can be walked along between the Sillianer Hütte in East Tyrol and the Nassfeld in Carinthia. This hiking trail, also called the “Friedensweg / Via della Pace / Trail of Peace” was initiated by the Dolomitenfreunde association with the aim of making former World War I tracks across the front accessible again and conserving the heritage of the war in this region in the form of “trails of peace”.

Opening

The Chapel of Peace at Zollnersee can be visited for free.

The “Museum 1915–18. Vom Ortler bis zur Adria” (From the Ortler to the Adriatic Coast), Kötschach-Mauthen
Season runs from 15 May – 15 October
Opening times during the season:
Monday to Friday 10am–1pm and 3pm–6pm
Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays 2pm–6pm
Visits by groups are also possible with appropriate pre-registration outside of opening times.
Further information:
www.dolomitenfreunde.at

Entrance Fee

The Chapel of Peace Zollnersee can be visited for free.

Information regarding cities, villages, other touristic attractions (non-WWI) nearby

Further information:

Mountain climbers villages: www.bergsteigerdoerfer.at
Gemeinde Dellach: www.dellach.gv.at
Karnischer Höhenweg: www.karnischer-hoehenweg.at
Region Karnische Alpen: www.karnische-alpen.com
Region Nassfeld: www.nassfeld.at

Accomodation

Further information:

Mountain climbers villages: www.bergsteigerdoerfer.at
Gemeinde Dellach: www.nassfeld.at/de/erlebnisraum-urlaub/dellach
Region Karnische Alpen: www.karnische-alpen.com
Region Nassfeld: www.nassfeld.at

Public Transport

Further information:
ÖBB: www.oebb.at

Further information sources

Publications:

Gabriele & Walther Schaumann, Unterwegs vom Pustertal zum Plöckenpass. Auf den Spuren der Karnischen Front 1915–1917, Klagenfurt (2003).
Gabriele & Walther Schaumann, Unterwegs vom Plöckenpass zum Kanaltal. Auf den Spuren der Karnischen Front 1915–1917, Klagenfurt (2004).
Gabriele & Walther Schaumann: Unterwegs zwischen Save und Soča. Auf den Spuren der Isonzofront 1915–1917, Klagenfurt (2005).
Julia Walleczek-Fritz & Peter Fritz, Begehen-Begreifen-Bewahren. Der Erste Weltkrieg entlang des Karnischen Kamms zwischen Sexten und Plöckenpass, Kartitsch/Sexten (2015).
[English Version: Julia Walleczek-Fritz & Peter Fritz, Ascend-Apprehend-Aspire. The First World War along Carnic Ridge between Sexten and Plöckenpass, Kartitsch/Sexten (2015).]

Museums Private Collections

“Museum 1915–18. Vom Ortler bis zur Adria” [Museum 1915–18. From the Ortler to the Adriatic Coast], Kötschach-Mauthen (Carinthia)
“Open-Air Museum of the Mountain War 1915–1917”, Plöckenpass
Museum and open-air museum were established by the Austrian “Dolomitenfreunde” association which continues to support these until the present day.
Further information:
www.dolomitenfreunde.at

Location

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