Filialkirche St. Jakob ob Ferndorf

The small Gothic church of St Jakob stands at the edge of St Jakob ob Ferndorf village in the Carinthian Alps. It belongs to the Gurk-Klagenfurt diocese and is listed as a protected monument. Records first mention the church in 1406, though its present form dates from the late medieval period. The building combines simple Gothic lines with Alpine carpentry. A shingle roof covers the nave and lower square choir, while a wooden bell turret rises at the east end. Inside, the two-bay nave has a flat wooden ceiling patterned with burnt rosettes. The pointed chancel arch frames a rib-vaulted choir, and a wooden west gallery overlooks the nave. The church’s centrepiece is a late Gothic winged altar made around 1515–20 by a workshop in Villach. The central statue shows Saint James the Elder, flanked by reliefs of Saints Peter and Paul and painted scenes of the Annunciation. Flanking altars from the early 18th and mid-18th centuries display images of the Holy Family and a Madonna and Child based on a 16th-century model.