Private day tour to Graz, history and culture

2 hours drive from Vienna. The clock tower was first mentioned in the 13th century. During the re-fortification of the Schlossberg from the middle of the 16th century, the tower received its current appearance.
The hands on the mighty clock faces often cause confusion. Do the clocks run differently in Graz? No. The fact that there were originally only large hands for the hours that were visible from afar and those for the minutes were only added later resulted in the hands being mixed up. The clock mechanism still works today, but has been electrically operated since the middle of the 20th century.
When there were fires in the city, the fire station on the clock tower rang the fire bell. The oldest bell in Graz, cast in 1382, strikes the hours.
The "poor sinner's bell" (around 1450) was rung during executions and later warned night owls, which also earned it the nickname "rag bell".
At three corners of the tower there are coats of arms that once adorned the fortifications of the castle hill.

When Graz became the European Capital of Culture in 2003, the New York artist Vito Acconci designed a walk-in island project, a 47 m long net-like steel structure reminiscent of a half-open shell. In its open part, wave-shaped blue benches form an arena for events of all kinds. Under the arched, water-cooled glass roof, a blue and white café offers the opportunity to enjoy the feeling of being close to the Mur - a new experience even for the people of Graz. Between the café and the arena, a three-dimensional labyrinth made of ropes and a slide promise an island adventure for children.

What is called an island is actually a ship. It hangs from an anchor and is additionally stabilized by the footbridges to both banks. The object is even equipped with navigation lights. As a warning - in case another ship strayed onto the Mur. But the Mur Island is so bright blue at night that no one can miss it anyway.

Due to its geographical location south of the Alps and as the capital of Inner Austria, Graz developed into an important centre of defence against invading peoples from the east. From the end of the 15th century, the advance of the Ottoman Turks in particular forced the Styrian Estates to increase their stocks of weapons as part of an organised defence. From 1642 onwards, Antonio Solar built an "armoury" next to the Landhaus for the growing arsenal. The State Armoury was to be closed as part of Maria Theresa's military reforms. However, the Styrian Estates managed to avert closure and to preserve the arsenal as a testament to the bravery of the Styrians in the fight against the "hereditary enemy of Christianity". The only original armoury in the world still has around 32,000 exhibits today. Historical weapons and military equipment from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century.

The cathedral is still a reminder of the time when Graz was an imperial city. Emperor Frederick III built it together with his new residence in Graz. Since 1786, the cathedral has served as the bishop's church and the main baroque church of the Catholics in Styria. The interior of the cathedral impresses with its harmony of Gothic and baroque architecture. The church's frescoes date from the time of Emperor Frederick III, including a depiction of Saint Christopher, who bears Frederick's facial features and the ducal hat of Styria. It is the dome landscape of the mausoleum that visually crowns the city.
In 1614, Ferdinand commissioned his Italian court architect Giovanni Pietro de Pomis to build a mausoleum and the structurally connected St. Catherine's Church next to the cathedral. One of the most architecturally significant building complexes of the early 17th century in Austria was created. The oval dome above the crypt chapel is the first of its kind outside Italy.

The centuries have changed a lot in the Habsburg residence in Graz, which was built in 1438 and is now the official residence of the Governor of Styria. Wings were added, others destroyed. But you can still find many impressive testimonies of times gone by. From the Biedermeier period to the Renaissance and back to the Gothic period. The famous double spiral staircase dates from this period. And these inscriptions - A.E.I.O.U. According to the German historian Konstantin Moritz Langmaier, A.E.I.O.U. stands for "Amor Electis Iniustis Ordinor Ultor". The phrase means something like "Loved by the chosen, feared by the unjust" - and can be found in contemporary documents about Frederick III. In 1438, as Duke of Styria, Frederick decided to build a new residence in Graz. He built the court church and today's cathedral of Saint Aegydius and had it structurally connected to his residential wing in the castle, which no longer exists today.

365 windows, 31 rooms per floor, 24 state rooms with 52 doors and a total of 60 windows, 4 corner towers. All allusions to the seasons, weeks, days, hours, minutes. This number game, influenced by the then new Gregorian calendar, is the basis of the palace. The image program of the Planet Hall, which was decorated in 1678, is also entirely dedicated to astronomy. In the ceiling paintings, the painter Hans Adam Weissenkircher assigned the seven celestial bodies known at the time to the days of the week, Roman gods, metals and Eggenberg family members. On the side walls, twelve signs of the zodiac complete the astronomical number program. The palace is inseparably linked to its park, a landscape garden created in the middle of the 19th century. The majestically striding peacocks and a newly designed section of the park - the Planet Garden, a natural continuation of the palace concept - are particularly attractive. - Time including return journey to Vienna