Gurk - Dom

In 1043 Hemma of Gurk (canonized in 1938) founded the Benedictine double monastery of Gurk Abbey, where she withdrew during the last years of her life.

After Saint Hemma´s death, the abbey was dissolved by the Archbishop of Salzburg, who instead set up the Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt in 1072.

The "Gurk Cathedral" is a Romanesque basilica, built 1140 - 1220. The crypt got consecrated already in 1174 and since then hosts the grave of Saint Hemma of Gurk, still a place of pilgrimage. In 1988 even Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral and prayed in the crypt at the grave of Saint Hemma.

Of course the tomb is secured behind intricate iron lattice work, but peeking through the grills, the visitors can see the head of Saint Hemma.