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Hidden gem1st – 5th c. ADRestricted access

Virunum

Municipium Claudium Virunum

city · Klagenfurt-Land District, Austria

What it is
Virunum was the Roman capital of Noricum, a planned town founded under Claudius on the Zollfeld near Maria Saal in Carinthia.
What you’ll see
The town covered about 100 hectares. After excavations from the late 19th century to 1931, digging resumed only at the end of the 20th century, when the amphitheatre was uncovered (de.wikipedia).
Worth the trip?
For most travellers, only in combination. The amphitheatre is a genuine and well-restored Roman monument, but with no open hours for individual visitors you will need to join an event, such as the summer gladiator shows, or come as a booked group.
Getting there & cost
The amphitheatre is on the Zollfeld in the municipality of Maria Saal (the operator), with the nearest mapped car park about 250 m away (OpenStreetMap).Restricted access · Amphitheatre - guided group tours only, booked in advance · checked 5 October 2026Hours, tickets and parking
An excavation site in a clearing seen from a slope, with timber, sheds and a white canopy among exposed walls, and a wide farmed plain and rounded hills beyond.
The amphitheatre during its excavation in 2006, with the Zollfeld beyond. · Photo: Johann Jaritz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A stretch of stone wall with an arched doorway at its centre, topped by an open timber-roofed platform, standing at the edge of a grassy arena.
The shrine of Nemesis and the governor's stand at the amphitheatre. · Photo: Alfred Platschka · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A large rectangular marble slab with a moulded frame, carved with several lines of Roman capital letters, set against a stone wall.
A Latin building inscription at the podium of the amphitheatre. · Photo: Johann Jaritz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Virunum was the Roman capital of Noricum, a planned town founded under Claudius on the Zollfeld near Maria Saal in Carinthia. The part of it that has been dug out and restored for visitors is its amphitheatre, with a shrine of Nemesis beside the arena. The catch is that you cannot simply turn up: the amphitheatre opens only for events and for groups that have booked.

What is there today

The town covered about 100 hectares. After excavations from the late 19th century to 1931, digging resumed only at the end of the 20th century, when the amphitheatre was uncovered (de.wikipedia). It is a long, elliptical amphitheatre, now restored, with an underground passage for the gladiators and a sanctuary of Nemesis, the Nemeseum, which holds inscriptions, altars and reliefs of animal fights; the Nemeseum is currently closed (the operator). In summer the arena is used for historical shows, including staged gladiator fights put on since 2020 with the Carinthian state museum (de.wikipedia).

On the slope of the Töltschach hill was a theatre with a stage, the only one known in Noricum, and east of the amphitheatre stands a large building thought to be the governor’s palace (de.wikipedia); the theatre, excavated in 1926, is overgrown with woodland again, though its half-circle can still be made out in the ground (Commons).

Is it worth the trip?

For most travellers, only in combination. The amphitheatre is a genuine and well-restored Roman monument, but with no open hours for individual visitors you will need to join an event, such as the summer gladiator shows, or come as a booked group. The obvious pairing is the Magdalensberg, the hill town that Virunum replaced, on the mountain above the Zollfeld.

Getting there

The amphitheatre is on the Zollfeld in the municipality of Maria Saal (the operator), with the nearest mapped car park about 250 m away (OpenStreetMap). Visits are possible only during events or for groups booked in advance: a guided tour is €9 a person for groups of ten or more, €5 a person for smaller groups, or €100 for the group (kärnten.museum, read 5 October 2026). The operator publishes no opening hours and no ticket for individual visitors.

Visiting details

Tickets
Amphitheatre - guided group tours only, booked in advance; €9 a person for groups of 10 or more, €5 a person for smaller groups, or €100 for a group tour. No ticket for individual visitors is published.

Before you go

  • The amphitheatre can be visited only during events or by groups that have booked in advance (the operator).
  • The shrine of Nemesis beside the arena is currently closed (the operator).

Hours and prices checked 5 October 2026 on the operator's own site. Confirm before travelling.

History

Virunum was founded around the middle of the 1st century under Claudius as the capital of Noricum, replacing the hill town on the Magdalensberg, whose name it may have taken. It stood on the road from the Adriatic to the Danube, on a terrace safe from floods at the edge of the Zollfeld (de.wikipedia). The town had Latin rights and was the seat of the provincial governor until the second half of the 2nd century; after the Marcomannic Wars the administration moved to Ovilava (Wels), leaving only the finances here. When Diocletian divided Noricum, Virunum became a provincial capital again, of inland Noricum, and it is recorded as a bishop’s seat from 343. Its territory took in central and eastern Carinthia and parts of Styria (de.wikipedia).

The end of the town is poorly known. Lying open in the valley without walls, it lost at least part of its population to the surrounding hills in the course of the 5th century, and by then Teurnia was named as the capital of Noricum (de.wikipedia).

More photographs

Low curving walls of grey stone around the edge of a grassy arena, with a squared stone block at one end and woodland behind.
The arena wall of the amphitheatre, northern part. · Photo: Johann Jaritz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

  • A green hillside terraced with the low stone walls of excavated buildings, some under modern roofs, rising to a small group of rebuilt houses and woodland at the top.

    Photo: de:Benutzer:Griensteidl · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    6 km · city · Klagenfurt-Land District

    Magdalensberg

    Since 1948 annual excavations have uncovered the buildings around the forum, and most of them are now open as an open-air museum in which they have been conserved and in part rebuilt; the park is a branch of the Carinthian state museum (de.wikipedia).

  • Low drystone wall footings laid out across a clearing in bare woodland, with a large open-sided pavilion roofed in wooden shingles covering further remains behind them.

    Photo: JakobZ · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    36 km · fort · Žirovnica

    Ajdna

    The settlement was built on terraces just below the summit (the register says three; sl.wikipedia two, joined by a ridge).

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Pleiades 197583CC BY
Wikidata Q701582CC0
OpenStreetMap way/351973266ODbL
Pleiades — Virunum amphitheatrelicence not recorded
Wikipedia (de) — VirunumCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (en) — VirunumCC BY-SA 4.0
kärnten.museum — Amphitheater Virunum (the operator)licence not recorded