Hauptplatz

The Hauptplatz is the broad, stone-paved heart of Villach's old town and the natural gathering point for the city. Pastel facades, cafe terraces, and the white bulk of the parish church of St Jakob frame the square, which has been a market place since medieval times. Today it hosts seasonal markets and the outdoor tables of half a dozen cafes that stay busy from late spring through autumn.

The square is fully pedestrianised and connects directly to the main shopping streets of the old town. On warm evenings the whole area takes on a southern atmosphere — the Mediterranean proximity of Villach is something you feel here more than almost anywhere else in Austria. The surrounding streets contain Renaissance buildings with distinctive Venetian-influenced arcades, remnants of the trading relationships that made Villach an important commercial centre through the 16th and 17th centuries.

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The large plague column at the centre of the Hauptplatz was erected in 1697 to give thanks for the end of a devastating outbreak. Such columns, known as Pestsäulen, were common across the Habsburg lands after the plague years of the 17th century — Villach's version is one of the best-preserved in Carinthia, topped with a gilded Virgin Mary that local children still garland with flowers on feast days.

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