ÖSTERREICH	AUSTRIA
Bundesland: Kärnten	Carinthia
Bezirk: Klagenfurt-Land

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Pörtschach am Wörther See is situated at an elevation of 446 m on the northern shore of the Wörthersee, about 14 km west of Klagenfurt. The municipality has a population of about 2650 (2010).

A settlement was founded by Slavic tribes at about the beginning of the 7th century. The earliest written mention of Pörtschach dates from 1150. In those days the lake castle was set up, of which little else than some skimpy wall-rests remains to this day. Around 1490 Leonstain castle was erected close to what today is Pörtschach's town center. Tourism industry started in the mid-19th century, accelerating after the establishment of the Wörthersee fleet in 1853. In 1864, Pörtschach received a railway station on the new line from Vienna to Venice, which made it a popular tourist destination. Famous tourists from Vienna included Emperor Franz Joseph I, Gustav Mahler and Johannes Brahms who worked on his second symphony here. After the tourism boom years in Carinthia of the 1960s and 1970s, Pörtschach is today being promoted also as an events centre.
[Text adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pörtschach_am_Wörthersee]