Historic walls become stages for museums, galleries and theaters; opera and music festivals fill places with sound. Magnificent castles open windows into the past - culture between lake & mountain.
For over 900 years, Millstatt Abbey has been the spiritual and cultural heart of Upper Carinthia – long before 1869, when the first summer holidaymakers travelled by train to Villach and covered the final few kilometres by horse-drawn carriage or flat-bottomed boat across Lake Millstätter See. Around 1900, the former monastic village was finally transformed into a destination of choice for the aristocracy and the middle classes: as early as 1885, over 900 guests were already strolling along the lakeshore.
To this day, 20 stately villas line the Millstätter Villenweg – built in an era when Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrödinger and Klimt’s muse Sonja Knips also spent their summers here. It is precisely these settings – monastery walls, castle courtyards, villa rooms – that continue to host the Kultursommer to this day. Set between Lake Millstatt, Spittal an der Drau and the Nockberge Mountains, the tradition that began generations ago continues: taking the TIME to enjoy art, music and stories away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The events calendar brings together all events taking place around Lake Millstätter See, Bad Kleinkirchheim and the Nockberge Mountains – updated daily and filterable by location, date or category.
With Spittal an der Drau, Millstatt am See and Feldkirchen, there are three urban centres in the region that are also cultural hubs. Especially in the summer months, the programmes of the art and cultural initiatives are well filled.
Over 30 years ago, art moved into the historic streets along the Lieser River. Just a few minutes from the Millstätter See – Bad Kleinkirchheim – Nockberge region, the Kunsthaus Gmünd 2026 is showing "Girl. Woman. Other.": iconic portraits of women by Matisse, Picasso and Alex Katz as well as contemporary positions – an impressive overview of images of women in the 20th and 21st centuries.
