Graz

Location: Styria  Map

 

Description of Graz

Graz (formerly also Grätz ) is the capital of Styria and with 286,292 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2018) the second largest city in the Republic of Austria. The city is located on both sides of the Mur in the Graz basin. The metropolitan area of Graz with 629,161 inhabitants (2017) for the metropolitan regions of Vienna and Linz , the third largest metropolitan area in Austria. Greater Graz has been Austria's fastest growing metropolitan area in the past ten years.

Foundation of Graz dates back to the Roman Empire. In the 6th century a castle was built here, from which the name Graz derives (Slovenian "gradec" means "small castle"). The City Arms received Graz 1245, 1379 to 1619 it was Habsburg royal seat and resistance during this period several Ottoman attacks. During WWII, Graz was part of Nazi Germany (along with the rest of Austria). At the end of the war, Graz was surrendered to Soviet troops largely intact; the historic old town was not seriously hit during Allied bombing raids on the city. In 2003 Graz was the European Capital of Culture ; In 2015 it became the Reformation city of Europe.

Graz has developed into a university city with a total of almost 60,000 students (as of 2 January 2017). It was chosen as the city of human rights and is the sponsor of the Europa Prize . The old town of Graz and Eggenberg Castle have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and 2010 respectively. Graz is bishop seat of the Diocese Graz-Seckau. Since March 2011, Graz has been part of the Creative Cities Network as a UNESCO City of Design.

 

Travel Destinations in Graz

Graz is politically divided into 17 city districts.

 

I. Inner city
II. St. Leonhard
III. Geidorf
IV. Lend
V. Gries
VI. Jakomini
VII. Liebenau
VIII. St. Peter
IX. Waltendorf
X. Ries
XI. Maria Trost
XII. Andritz
XIII. Gösting
XVI. Eggenberg
XV. Wetzelsdorf
XVI. Straßgang
XVII. Puntigam
Graz

 

The districts are arranged spirally counterclockwise. Starting from the first district in an easterly direction, the spiral winds around the inner city for a quarter of a quarter . The first six core districts have grown historically, the remaining districts, formerly suburbs, were incorporated in 1938 in the course of the formation of Greater Graz . In 1988, Puntigam split from Straßgang.

 

Graz old town

General
The historic old town of Graz and its roof landscape were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 because of their perfect state of preservation and the visibility of the architectural development in the old town and expanded to "City of Graz - Historical Center and Eggenberg Castle" in 2010. This award is associated with the obligation to preserve the historical legacy with its building ensemble that has grown since the Gothic period and to harmoniously integrate new architecture. Most of Graz's sights are in the old town. This extends over the entire district of the inner city. There are also many historical buildings outside the old town, mainly in the districts of St. Leonhard (II.) and Geidorf (III.).

Schlossberg and surroundings
In the geographic center of the city is the Schloßberg, which served as a fortress between 1125 and 1809. After the successful defense of the complex against Napoleon's troops under the command of Colonel Franz Xaver Hackher zu Hart and the conclusion of peace, the Schloßberg fortress was blown up. The citizens of Graz bought the clock tower and the bell tower free, so that both have been preserved to this day. From 1839 the expansion of the bare rock into a park began. In addition to the two towers, there are still some remains of the fortress and listed buildings from that time, including the remains of the Thomas Chapel, the citizens' and stable bastion and the casemates (former dungeon). The Schloßberg plateau with its monuments, not all of which have been uncovered, can be reached via the Kriegssteig, the Schloßbergbahn, the lift and some footpaths. In the mountain itself there are tunnel systems several kilometers long, which were shelters for air raids and bombing raids in World War II. Today part of it is used for events (“Dom im Berg”) or as a fairy tale train (“The Graz Fairy Tale Train”). The Mining and Industrial Railway Museum in Berg is currently not open to the public due to fire regulations.

The Schloßberg can be circumnavigated and developed via a path and road network. The tour begins with the outer Paulustor in the Paulustorgasse of the same name, the only surviving city gate of the Renaissance fortifications, which was built by Domenico dell'Allio. The next building towards the city center is the Palmburg with its mighty access ramp. Right next to it is the folklore museum and the inconspicuous Antoniuskirche. The sacred building was constructed between 1600 and 1602 after more than 10,000 Protestant books were burned at its site in 1600. This area is called Paulustorvorstadt.

The Palais Saurau with its massive portal and the half-length figure of a Turk below the edge of the roof dominates the entrance to the Sporgasse, a steep, narrow street. This is followed by the former inn "Zur goldenen Pate" with its round oriel, which is unique in Graz, the former Augustinian hermit monastery and the Stiegenkirche, the house of the Teutonic Knights and some representative town houses with shops, before the alley leads to the main square. The Stiegenkirche, which can be reached via a staircase, was part of the Paulsburg, the oldest part of Graz's city fortifications.

Sackstrasse leads north from the main square. At the beginning of the street is the "Hotel Erzherzog Johann", followed by the department store Kastner & Öhler, the landscape pharmacy, the oldest pharmacy in Graz, the inn "Zum Roten Krebsen", the Palais Kellersberg, the Widow's Palace and the Palais Attems, Herberstein and Khuenburg . The Palais Attems with its magnificent facade is "the most important noble palace in Styria", the Admonterhof is attached to its rear. The Palais Herberstein houses the “Museum im Palais”; The Graz City Museum and the Pharmacy Museum are housed in Palais Khuenburg, the birthplace of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne who was murdered in Sarajevo in 1914. Right next to it is the Reinerhof, the oldest documented building in Graz.

The Kriegssteig and the Schloßbergstollen, a direct connection to Karmeliterplatz, can be seen from Schloßbergplatz. The Trinity Church is located across from the square. It belongs to the building complex of the School Nursing School. Sackstrasse leads into Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Kai, a street that lines the banks of the Mur instead of a broken row of houses. The Sackstrasse in Graz originally consisted of three "sacks", i.e. closed development zones. Over time, a total of three sack gates, which no longer exist, broke through the walls to gain living space. For a long time, this area was considered the most densely populated in Graz. The valley station of the Schloßbergbahn and town houses are located on the quay, which leads into the busy Wickenburggasse. Remains of the old bastion of the third sack gate can still be seen.

 

Cathedral of Saint Agydlus (Graz)

Mausoleum of Ferdinand II (Graz)

Landesmuseum or Universalmuseum Joanneum (Graz)

Neue Galerie (Graz)

Graz Military Defenses

 

City crown of Graz
The crown of the city of Graz is located at the foot of the Schloßberg. It consists of four monumental buildings: the Gothic cathedral (Domkirche St. Ägidius), the important Mannerist building of the mausoleum with the integrated St. Catherine's Church from the 17th century, the old Jesuit University and Graz Castle.

Dom
The Graz Cathedral has been the cathedral church of the diocese of Graz-Seckau and the parish church of the Graz cathedral parish since 1786. From 1577 to 1773, the seemingly inconspicuous sacred building with a simple ridge turret served as a religious order church for the Graz Jesuits. It is the most important inner-city sacred building in terms of art and cultural history. Built in the 15th century and was the court church of the Roman-German emperors. The cathedral was once connected to Graz Castle by a connecting passage. The main altar is an important baroque work of art. In the two aisles are the bridal chests of Paola Gonzaga from the dynasty of Mantua - created by Andrea Mantegna in the Italian early Renaissance. The outer wall of the cathedral is decorated with a fresco, the so-called plague picture.
Catherine's Church and Mausoleum
St. Catherine's Church with the mausoleum, a Mannerist building, is right next to the cathedral. It is the burial place of Emperor Ferdinand II (1578-1637) and the largest mausoleum built by the Habsburgs. Between the cathedral and the mausoleum stands a bronze sculpture of the church patron Ägidius on a plinth, which was cast based on a model by the Graz artist Erwin Huber.
Castle

From 1379 to 1619 Graz was the residence of the Habsburgs. The Jesuit order is closely linked to the history of Graz. The monks lived in the canon's courtyard opposite the old and first Graz university.

Graz Castle with the Burggarten is the seat of the Styrian provincial government. Its construction began in 1438 under Duke Friedrich V and continued under Archduke Charles II and his son, Emperor Ferdinand II. A relict from the first, Gothic construction phase is the extraordinary double spiral staircase from 1499. The castle gate is integrated into the building, next to the outer Paulustor the last surviving city gate of Graz.

Center
The center of Graz consists of the main square, Herrengasse, Färberplatz and Mehlplatz, parts of Burggasse and Bürgergasse, Schmiedgasse, Raubergasse, Neutorgasse, Marburger Kai, Andreas-Hofer-Platz and the Franziskanerviertel with the respective side streets.

The main square is an irregular and historically grown area with a market function, which used to extend south to Landhausgasse. All of the city's tram lines pass through it. On the south side stands the neoclassical Graz town hall, built between 1889 and 1895 according to plans by the architects Alexander Wielemans and Theodor Reuter over an older town hall from 1807. Today it is the seat of the Graz municipal council. In the middle of the square is the Archduke Johann Fountain, a work by the Viennese caster Franz Pönninger, which was unveiled in 1878. The larger-than-life bronze statue of Archduke Johann towers over an imposing metal base, at the corners of which four female statues depict allegories of the rivers Mur, Enns, Drau and Sann. Town houses and city palaces line the main square: the Weißsche Haus, the Adler pharmacy, the two stuccoed Luegg houses on the corner of Sporgasse, the Weikhard house with the grandfather clock of the same name and the Palais Stürgkh.

Herrengasse, a magnificent baroque street, runs between the main square and the second central square, Jakominiplatz. Here you will find the country house with its Renaissance arcaded courtyard, the state armory with the largest collection of early modern weapons in the world, the so-called "painted house" and the parish church, Graz's main parish church. Before Herrengasse flows into Ringstrasse, it crosses Am Eisernen Tor square with its fountain and Marian column. The eponymous Iron Gate was a city gate of the Renaissance fortification belt until the 19th century. In the southern part of Herrengasse, geographically bordered by Kaiserfeldgasse and Schmiedgasse, the Graz Jewish ghetto was located until 1439.

From the Stadtkrone you can reach the Grazer Schauspielhaus, which opened in 1776, on the Freiheitsplatz and via the Hofgasse and Bürgergasse the alley system around the Glockenspielplatz with the Glockenspielhaus. At the end of Engen Gasse you can go through Stempfergasse, a shopping street, to Herrengasse or see the bishop's palace at Bischofplatz.

 

The Franciscan Church, the second largest church in Graz, stands on the east bank of the Mur and is the center of the Franciscan Quarter. Because of its former island location, the first monastery settlement in Graz is set at an angle. The course of the so-called "Kot(h)mur", a sewer, separated the area from the rest of the city center.

The Joanneumviertel can be reached from the Franziskanerviertel, located between Raubergasse, Landhausgasse and Andreas-Hofer-Platz. It consists of two monumental buildings and houses the main building of the largest Styrian museum, the Joanneum. The old botanical garden, which had to move to Geidorf, was once located in the newly designed inner courtyard. The Neutor, which was demolished in 1884, stood on the site of the new Joanneum and the post office building by Friedrich Setz. The municipal building of the city of Graz dominates the streetscape of Schmiedgasse. The Higher Regional Court of Graz is located at the southern end of the Marburger Kai.

The old city wall is visible in a few places above ground: the Glacisstraße and the city park are reminiscent of the open space in front of the city fortress in terms of name and location; Remnants of the wall have been preserved in the peacock garden and in the city park. The layout of the ring road roughly follows the course of the former moat; in some corners the position of the former bastions can be seen from the air. Graz Stadtpark, which covers most of the old glacis, is the largest inner-city green space. In addition to numerous monuments, there are the Forum Stadtpark, the Künstlerhaus - Hall for Art and Media, the music pavilion, the Stadtpark fountain and some natural monuments. The creation of the park began in 1869 and was opened in 1873 by Mayor Moritz Ritter von Franck. The Graz Opera House, opened in 1899, was built outside the Stadtpark and in the area of ​​the city centre.

Bridges and water related
The description of the bridges and footbridges in Graz is limited to those that cross the Mur river or, in one case, only accompany it. (For other waters, see also: Grazer Mühlgang.) Two cable ferries, last in 1958, are history; Passenger shipping only existed from 1888 until the steamship Styria (formerly Kühbeck) broke up in 1889 at the Radetzky Bridge. Since the Capital of Culture year 2003, a “Murinsel”, actually a pontoon jetty, sitting on the bottom when the water level is low, has been a technical curiosity. On the left bank about 70 m above the Kepler Bridge, the Graz gauge was equipped with an interactive screen in December 2016. The city publishes water levels of the Graz streams, in particular to monitor the risk of flooding. Historically twice there was the idea to build a cable car for passenger transport along and above the river.

The A9 Pyhrn autobahn crosses the Mur on the northern municipal boundary to Gratkorn. The Weinzödl power plant (in operation since 1982) is dammed about two kilometers downstream and feeds the Mühlgang on the right. 500 m further crosses the narrow Weinzöttlbrücke, which opened in 1922 and is a listed building - made of concrete, with a siding in the roadway, originally with gas lights. This is followed by the Pongratz-Moore-Steg and the Calvary Bridge built in 1989/90 with a towering, blue triangular steel frame between the supporting structures.

On the right bank at the Kalvarienbrücke at the house Kalvariengurtel 1 (corner of Floßlendstraße) there is the plaster painting Floßlend around 1870 by Toni Hafner from 1969 on the western facade, depicting a raft made of logs lashed with chains with a rope to a bollard on the bank, behind (upstream) an earlier wooden bridge of at least five arches.

On the left bank 700 m above the Calvary Bridge (just below the Calvary Church on the right bank) and 1 m east of the cycle path that runs alongside the bank (♁47° 5′ 35.7″ N, 15° 25′ 10.3″ E) a stele (between high bushes) to the wooden cable ferry "Überfuhr" that used to be operated here from 1934 to 1958. Six concrete steps with four iron anchors can still be seen as relics on the left bank embankment, fewer on the right bank. According to the inscription, another crossing existed from "1864 to the flood of 1873/74" about 200 m below.

 

The Ferdinandsbrücke, north-west of the Schlossberg, named after Emperor Ferdinand I, was the first chain bridge in Styria and the largest in Austria, built from autumn 1833 by the leaseholder of the ferry, Franz Strohmeyer, based on the plans of the Viennese architect Johann Jäckl, inaugurated on 19. April 1836 by Prince Bishop Roman Sebastian Zängerle. It was renamed Keplerbrücke in 1920 in honor of Johannes Kepler, who lived and researched here for six years. In 1963, a new bridge was built with steel girders, the underwater side of which was opened to cyclists around 1993 and widened at the expense of the roadway. In 2006, the heavily used route for cyclists and pedestrians along the left bank was crossed under the longest bridge structure in Graz and named Elise-Steininger-Steg after one of the first Graz cyclists. The steel support elements are non-slip coated with epoxy resin quartz sand. One of the elements of the south ramp is horizontal, so that wheelchair users and pedestrians can pause. However, the elements have expansion joints up to 30 mm wide. The gap, which became even wider in the confusing north curve, was covered by a slippery, smooth NiRo sheet metal, later replaced by a corrugated one, the bumping hump remains. The stainless steel railing with vertical braces features a handrail with laser-sharp-cut brackets that will cut the skin of fingers.

Downstream lies the Murinsel. The tourist attraction and partially covered "island" is actually a steel pontoon bridge with a large oval float that rests on skids on the bottom at low tide. So that the “island” is completely surrounded by water in this case, too, a small sill was built across the entire river a little below. A curved footbridge leads from the right bank to the bow of the float, which – oblong-oval, in the middle of the river – hangs on a steel cable that is anchored in the river and is checked by a diver about once a year. From the stern, a bridge that curves in the opposite direction leads to the left bank. Viewed along the axis of the river, the jetties run in a V-shape towards the middle of the river at low tide. The floating body rises with high tide, in extreme cases higher than the bridgeheads of the jetties on the banks. The transverse thrust of the webs twists the island slightly around the vertical axis. The footbridges can be reached by stairs, on the left also by lift, from the right also by ramp and are signposted as footpaths.

Shortly afterwards - in the extension of the Schlossbergplatz - follows the Erich-Edegger-Steg. This wheel-foot bridge was named after the local politician and fighter for soft mobility in 2003 and only received sufficient vibration absorbers around 2010 and was completely renovated in 2020.

Then comes the Archduke Johann Bridge (until around 2013: Main Bridge). The former ford here was the first and over 400 years the only Murbrücke in Graz. In 1843 the city built a chain bridge, which was replaced by an iron structure in 1892. In 1918 the Franz Carl Chain Bridge was renamed the Main Bridge. A simple new construction of the main bridge with a wide carriageway was carried out in 1964 with the intention of demolishing a row of houses in the narrow Murgasse and allowing motor vehicle traffic to cross the main square. The figures of Austria and Styria, which stood on the bridge, are located in the city park, bronze decorations came into private hands and were again offered to the city for sale around 2003 and 2014. A bronze ornament has been on display on the left bank under the bridge since around 2003, as well as a stone salvaged from the Mur. A terrace was concreted here around 2002, from which a striking staircase leads up to near the left bridgehead on the underwater side, downstream the Murpromenade, which has been developed as a footpath with stone benches, leads. The modern main bridge was completely renovated around 2006: The railings were made of NiRo steel as a gently arched, profiled railing plus wire rope net, which is now full of "love locks". The sidewalks were widened, the step on the upstream side was lowered to 3 cm and the tram route was routed parallel to the southern edge of the sidewalk in a more cycle-friendly manner. It was not until 2013 that the almost car-free bridge was renamed to Archduke Johann Bridge. In 2003, the Paddle Rodeo World Championships took place on a wide water cylinder created by stone sizing on the underwater side between the central pillar and the left bank.

In 2018-2019, the Graz Mur power plant in Puntigam and the central storage canal (ZSK) (left) along the bed of the Mur with several feed canals were built across the bed of the Mur up to the Tegetthoff Bridge. A resistance movement of Murschützen, who set up camps and tree houses and called for a referendum, could not prevail.

 

The Puchsteg bridge from around 1940 (between the Liebenau camp and Puchwerk) had to be demolished in 2019 so that the Mur remained navigable for the fire brigade when the water level had been raised by around 5 m. A new, covered Puch footbridge was built in 2019/2020 about 100 m above at the level of Sturzgasse. Radlobby Argus managed to increase the lane width to 3.50 m compared to the plan of 2.50 m. A shallow water zone with two concrete piers was built below on the left. The Augarten Bay was built at the same time. A small tributary was created above the Augartensteg on the left, the steep embankment was removed and the park was lowered here in an arena-like manner. The main cycle route was relocated, experienced a kink and a detour.

From the root of the reservoir, the current speed is reduced, making upstream paddling and rowing easier, but leading to the deposition of sediment in the river. In autumn 2020, work began on the new construction of the old boathouse at Marburgerkai. Instead of sacrificing the power plant output to the left of the Puntigam power plant, plans are underway to use the gradient to the left below the Murinsel in order to generate jets of water with a roller for playboating.

Downstream follows the Tegetthoff Bridge, completed in 1975, and the listed Radetzky Bridge. With the support of a rope suspended from the Gehradweg (GRW) bridge, surfing on boards and playboating has been practiced in a roller in the left half of the river since about 2000 when the water flow is suitable. The Puntigam power plant on the Mur, which began construction in 2017, will dam this roller, as well as the location at the Archduke Johann Bridge further up. Boating was banned as early as mid-December 2017 with the construction of the construction road on the left bank of the river for the Central Storage Canal (ZSK) up to around the Radetzky Bridge extended to beyond the boathouse on Marburgerkai, so that the Christmas paddling of the Canoe Club Graz (KCG) on December 16, 2017 from the Weinzödl power plant ended for the first time before the Erzherzog-Johann Bridge by exiting at Murbeach. Below this is the Augartenbrücke, the last existing concrete arch bridge, and the particularly complex Augartensteg for pedestrians and cyclists, which was built in 2003 to save costs without the connecting structure planned by the architects for the left bank. The supporting structure was stored as a whole on rollers on the right bank, supported by a crane hoist and brought across the river from a walking mechanism at the front. After being placed on the bridgeheads, the four slightly sloping arches were braced by means of two hydraulic cylinders acting on steel compression struts, which were located above the middle of the river and on the right and left slightly below the roadway, which were finally fixed with a weld seam. It was only around 2010 that this footbridge was supplemented by a gravel path to the east through the park, on which even cycling was allowed.

After the Augartenbad that follows the Augarten, the Berta von Suttner Peace Bridge, which was first named (around) 1984, crosses the Mur. It has four lanes, is heavily used by vehicles and is connected on the right bank with a loop and underpass without crossing. On the underwater side, it has a cycle path under the main lane with a sidewalk, which is characterized by poor visibility on the left bank, which is prone to accidents, and on the right bank by the lack of cycle traffic connections upstream. For decades, the police and road authorities have tolerated the fact that the majority of pedestrian traffic also takes place here.

Only one junkyard length (near the left bank) further and after the snowfall on the right crosses the railway bridge of the Styrian Eastern Railway. For boaters and swimmers - the Mur has had good bathing quality for decades - dangerous steel profiles towering in the area of ​​a former central pillar were removed by the fire brigade around 2009.

About 1 km downstream, the Steweag/Steg pipe bridge, which is closed to the public, runs two insulated district heating pipes plus high-voltage cables from the Mur district heating plant (Puchstraße), which went into operation in 1963.

 

Almost 1 km further and a little south of the Sturzgasse the Puchsteg ran across the river. With girders and railings made of steel, both clad in wood, it was probably built in 1942/1943 for the forced laborers of Camp V, which was built in 1940, to enable them to reach the Puchwerk west of the Mur more quickly, although it was signposted as "built in 1949". It was released for public use in 1949 after a general overhaul and renovated around 2013 as a pedestrian and cyclist bridge. The footbridge was about 75 m long, the Mur here at Mittelwasser about 45 m wide, the bridgeheads were formed by U-shaped to trapezoidal reinforced concrete foundation walls and short road ramps with a 10-15% gradient. The two piers made of painted steel lattice supports stood in the water, were almost two-dimensional trapezoidal - a few decimeters narrow from the point of view of the water flow, from the point of view of the jetty axis as wide as the jetty at the top - about 2.5 m, at the bottom in the water about 10 m wide. On the upstream, sloping front edge and part of the sides, the pillars were covered with wooden planking as protection against direct impact and getting caught by any flotsam, ice in winter or trees at high water. In 2017, by March 15, the trees on both banks were cleared on a stretch around the Puchsteg to build another Mur power plant near the Olympiawiese. By December 2017, the construction road for the central storage canal was built in the water on the left bank upriver to around the Radetzky Bridge, as well as a bridge with a load capacity of 90 t up to the middle of the river just below the Radetzky Bridge. In this context, the Puchsteg was demolished in June 2019. The opening of a new footbridge over the Mur, originally planned for the summer of 2019, had to be postponed due to delays in the usage agreements for the properties required for this and was finally carried out on July 10, 2020. However, the usage contract with the owner of the soap factory is limited to five years for the time being.

From around 2021, the power plant is to offer another crossing point for pedestrians and cyclists, but on the left bank the cycle route will take a detour. The power plant operator Energie Steiermark promised the new, young chairman Marcel Bloder of the Graz Kayak Club KCG a training course with a natural gradient for various types of water sports directly to the left of the power plant - by the hour and for a fee. The Puchsteg footbridge above the planned power plant site was too low for fire-fighting boats to be able to drive under it, so it had to be removed. The new building is about 220 m further north in the line of the Sturzgasse and has been significantly raised, which in connection with the Mur power station will mean that the river-crossing network meshes for pedestrians and cyclists will be somewhat denser in this area in the future.

This is followed by the Puntigamer Bridge, a four-lane road bridge that was rebuilt in 1995/96 and will carry even more car traffic with the southern belt (construction start in 2014, opening on May 19, 2017). On the south side, it is equipped with a footpath and cycle path at road level, separated from it by a tiered, orange-tiled concrete wall. Fragments of the previous structure lie downstream of the bridge, where there is rougher water, swells and even an eddy at one point just to the right of the middle of the river. (Status 2017, with a clearing and deepening for the underwater of the upcoming power plant is to be expected.)

About 500 m south of Auer-von-Welsbach-Gasse, where there was a municipal gas works, the iron gas pipe footbridge (built in 1951), also covered with wood, leads over the river with two piers for cyclists and pedestrians, on the left bank, with a ramp bent at right angles upstream connected to the Uferweg (GRW only upstream) and the parallel Murfelderstraße. On the right bank, the legal possibility to skate ends here, actually only moving walkways on the edge of the sidewalk-free road would be allowed from here. This is roughly the root of the reservoir of the Gössendorf Mur power plant, which only went into operation in 2012. The motorway bridge that will soon follow is just south of the city limits in Gössendorf or Feldkirchen near Graz, exactly 1 km further from the power plant mentioned.

 

City ​​gates

Two of the eleven city gates in Graz have been preserved: the Burgtor as a section of Graz Castle and the outer Paulustor at the end of Paulustorgasse. While the Paulustor is the only surviving rampart gate of the historic late Renaissance fortification belt, which was planned by the master builder Domenico dell'Allio, the Burgtor cannot be assigned to either the medieval or the modern city fortifications.

Nothing remains of the medieval wall. The two Murtore in Murgasse were demolished in 1837, followed by the inner Paulustor in Sporgasse in 1846, the three Sacktore in Sackstrasse have not existed since the 19th century. The Renaissance wall of the city gate of the same name stood on the square by the Iron Gates. Like the Neutor, demolished in 1884 as the last of the old gates, it resembled the outer Paulustor. The Franzenstor at the mouth of the Burggasse in the Roseggergarten lasted the shortest. The decorative arch erected in 1835 was removed again in 1856. The demolition of the Graz city gates was legitimized by the increased volume of traffic and increased construction activity. After the fortifications were demolished in the middle of the 19th century, they lost their protective function.

Until the annexation of Austria in March 1938, a pavement toll was levied at the Graz city gates (this toll had been abolished almost everywhere in Europe in the 19th century).

 

Sights outside of the old town

Eggenberg Castle

With more than a million visitors a year, Schloss Eggenberg and the Schlosspark are the most frequented sights outside of Graz city centre.

Eggenberg is considered to be the most important baroque palace complex in Styria. Its history goes back to the Middle Ages. From 1625 it was expanded into a representative four-wing complex by order of Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg (1568-1634) and under the direction of the court architect Giovanni Pietro de Pomis. The castle was directly connected to the city center via Eggenberger Allee; all that remains of the boulevard is a small section with avenues in the immediate vicinity of the palace and a street name.

Schloss Eggenberg is designed according to a cosmic number symbolism. The four corner towers stand for the four cardinal points and the four elements. The facility has 365 exterior windows for the days of a year. On the second floor, the Beletage, there are 52 exterior windows for the weeks of a year. Each floor in the house has 31 rooms for the maximum number of days in a month. On the second floor, 24 state rooms are arranged in a ring, symbolizing the hours of a day. The concept is intended to commemorate the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582.

A cycle of 24 state rooms with original furnishings from the 17th and 18th centuries is one of the most important ensembles of historic interiors in Austria. Rarely has an interior of comparable quality been preserved in such a complete way. Its focal point is the stuccoed planetary hall with the cycle of paintings by Hans Adam Weissenkircher.

The publicly accessible castle park was designed together with the castle. He often changed his appearance throughout the story. It is one of the few historic gardens in Austria that are under monument protection. At the north corner is the planet garden, which was newly laid out in 2000. Free-roaming peacocks live in the castle park.

sacred buildings
In Graz, as in most cities in Catholic Austria, there are numerous sacred buildings. The oldest churches in the city are the Leechkirche near the University of Graz, the Stiegenkirche as part of the historic Paulsburg in Sporgasse and the Rupertikirche in Straßgang. The tallest church buildings are the neo-Gothic Herz-Jesu-Kirche made of brick and the Franziskanerkirche - the lower part of the tower of which was once part of the Graz city wall. At 109.6 m, the Herz-Jesu-Kirche is the third highest church in Austria and the tallest building in Graz. In the same district opposite the LKH Graz is the parish church of St. Leonhard, first mentioned in 1361. At this point, the Meierhof Guntarn stood in the Middle Ages as Graz's first settlement outside of the inner city.

There are numerous religious branches in Graz, many of which were dissolved in the course of the Josephine reforms of 1783. There remained mainly monasteries dedicated to nursing and education. A Franciscan monastery has been preserved in the city center since the 13th century, on the opposite bank of the Mur is the Minorite monastery with the baroque Mariahilferkirche. In the Sackstraße, opposite the Schloßbergsteig, is the Trinity Church, until 1900 the church of the former Ursuline convent. The Antoniuskirche is located in the Paulustorgasse next to the folklore museum.

The larger complexes in the city of Graz include the Dominican convent in the Münzgrabenstrasse, the Lazarist monastery in the Mariengasse, and the monastery of the Sisters of Mercy right next to it. The Brothers of Mercy maintain two hospitals in Graz: one in Marschallgasse (further expansion from 2019) and one in Eggenberg. Women's orders dedicated to nursing are the Elisabethines in the district of Gries and the Sisters of the Cross with a convent and private clinic in Geidorf. The Ursulines in Leonhardstraße, the school sisters at the foot of the Schloßberg and in Eggenberg, as well as the school and monastery of the Sacré Coeur Graz are active in the school.

In Geidorf there is the Grabenkirche as the monastery church of the Capuchin order, the Church of the Redeemer on the grounds of the LKH Graz and the Church of Maria Schnee as part of the Carmelite monastery in the Grabenstraße. Next to the men's monastery is the Carmelite monastery with the church of St. Joseph, whose first convent on the former Fischplatz (today Andreas-Hofer-Platz) was dissolved in 1782 and the building was demolished in 1934. In addition to the Church of the Sisters of the Cross with the private clinic, a modern sacred building has been preserved in Geidorf with the Salvator Church.

 

The Graz Calvary is located in the fourth district of Lend. The complex on the Austein was founded in the 16th century and managed by the Jesuits. The high baroque Calvary Church with the Holy Stairs and the Ecce Homo stage and the numerous chapels are particularly worth seeing. Also worth mentioning in the same district are the Church of Mercy and the Church of St. Mary near Graz Central Station.

In Gries there are important Gothic and Baroque church buildings such as the Church of St. Andrä, the Welsche Church on Griesplatz and the Bürgerspitalkirche. In addition to the baroque Karlauerkirche and the central cemetery church in neo-Gothic brick style, there are some modern church buildings: St. Lukas with its unusual interior, St. John as part of the Trieste settlement, as well as the church and parish center of Don Bosco, in whose buildings a toll booth and a powder magazine were housed. The Jakomini district is primarily characterized by the modern church building of the Münzgrabenkirche and the Josefkirche.

A sacred center in Graz is the outskirts of Mariatrost. The Mariatrost Basilica, a nationally known and baroque pilgrimage church on the Purberg, has officially been the destination of large streams of pilgrims since 1714. A miraculous statue of Mary from the Rein Abbey in Eisbach is venerated. The construction of the sacred building lasted from 1714 to 1779. After the Josephine reforms, the monastery wings were used as stables. From the mid-19th century until 1996, the Franciscans resumed the pilgrimage tradition. In the same year, Pope John Paul II appointed Mariatrost a minor basilica. In 1968 the Mariatroster Declaration was published in the pilgrimage church.

In addition to the Mariatrost Basilica, there are two other sacred buildings in the district: the Mariagrüner Kirche, which is considered the most important ecclesiastical foundation by a citizen of the city of Graz. Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, often visited the church building on his walks. In 1873 the Styrian writer Peter Rosegger married his first wife in the Mariagrüner Church. On the other hand, the modern Church of the Annunciation in Kroisbach, which was integrated into a housing estate and consecrated in 1974.

In the district of St. Peter, the parish church of St. Peter is visible from afar. In the northeast of Graz you can visit the church of St. Ulrich and the associated spring sanctuary, the parish church of St. Vitus and the church of the Holy Family in Andritz. There is a sacred building in each of two districts: St. Paul in the Eisteichsiedlung in Waltendorf and the Bruder-Klaus-Kirche near the satellite town on the Berliner Ring in the Ragnitz.

On the right bank of the Mur, in the districts of Gösting and Eggenberg, you can see the Church of St. Anna, the Castle Church of Eggenberg Castle, the Fourteen-Nothelfer Church, the modern Church of the Guardian Angel, the Church of St. Vincent and on a ridge in Wetzelsdorf the Church of St. Johann and Paul . In the southern district of Straßgang there are other sacred buildings in Graz, such as the Church of Maria im Elend, the Schlosskirche St. Martin, the somewhat remote Florianikirche on the Florianiberg, the Elisabethkirche and the aforementioned Rupertikirche. In the youngest district of Graz, Puntigam, there is the parish church of St. Leopold, built in 1967, and the institutional church of the southern location in the LKH Graz Süd-West.

The Heilandskirche, located near the Graz Opera House, is the largest evangelical church in the city of Graz. The current building was erected in the historicist style from 1853, after a Protestant house of prayer had been located here since 1824. It is part of a building complex with parish buildings and the Martin Luther House. The Evangelical Church also includes the Kreuzkirche on the edge of the Volksgarten, whose parish home is the Mühl-Schlössl, the Christ Church in Eggenberg, the Evangelical Church of St. John in Andritz and the Church of the Redeemer in Liebenau.

In addition to the Catholic and Protestant church buildings in Graz, the Old Catholic Church can be found on Kernstockgasse, the Coptic Church on Wiener Strasse and centers of various denominations scattered throughout the city, including a parish hall of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in Eggenberg.

 

Graz also has a synagogue. The old Graz synagogue was built in 1892 and belonged to the Jewish community with its 2,500 members. It was a successor building to the synagogue in the former Jewish quarter in downtown Graz. In the so-called Reichskristallnacht from November 9th to 10th, 1938, the prayer house was burned down and the entire area leveled to erase the memory of the synagogue. All Graz Jews were deported to Vienna and Graz was declared the first “Jew-free” city in the Ostmark. Until 1998 there was only a lawn with a memorial stone on the site of the destroyed synagogue. The new Graz synagogue and community center were built in 1998 using the old brickwork. In August 2020, pro-Palestinian graffiti was applied to both buildings and windows were smashed. The mayor was attacked with a baseball bat.

secular buildings
On the northern outskirts of Graz are the castle ruins of Gösting, a ruin with a very good view, from which the Mur Valley north of Graz was once controlled. In the 10th and 11th centuries there was a previous structure on the Frauenkogel at this point, the remains of which, like the castle, are listed. Gösting Castle itself dates back to the 12th century and was part of a chalk fire warning system designed to warn the population of any threats. In 1723 the castle was destroyed by lightning, today the ruins are a tourist destination. After the destruction, the Counts of Attems built the baroque castle of Gösting as their new seat.

The largest Art Nouveau building complex in Austria is located in the east of the city, the LKH University Hospital Graz. It was "regarded as the most modern hospital on the continent at the time and was often even referred to as a wonder of the world". However, the relatively long distance from the city center aroused the displeasure of the Graz citizenry. The building complex is connected by an underground tunnel system. Each medical department has its own building. Modernization measures were carried out over time. In the vicinity of the hospital you will also find the Rettenbachklamm, a year-round accessible gorge in the city area, the Leechwald local recreation area, the artificially created Hilmteich with a castle and the Hilmwarte.

Outside the city center there are relatively few palaces, most of which are publicly owned. In St. Leonhard, on the edge of the city park, stands the Palais Kees, a late classicist building. Among other things, it housed the k.u.k. corps command. Since a renovation at the beginning of the 21st century, it has been used as a student residence. Palais Meran, the former city seat of Archduke Johann, has been the main building of the Graz Art University since 1963. With numerous palaces and villa complexes, Elisabethstraße is one of Graz's boulevards from the Gründerzeit. Worth mentioning are the Palais Apfaltrern, Auersperg, Kottulinsky, Kübeck and Prokesch-Osten and the Meran houses. The Graz Literature House is located in the Palais Mayr-Melnhof. Somewhat out of town are the villas Kollmann and Lazarini (in selection). The Geidorf villa district stretches from Elisabethstraße via Leechgasse to Schubertstraße.

The Palais Thinnfeld in the district of Lend is directly connected to the Grazer Kunsthaus. A special feature of the Palais Wertl von Wertlsberg is its castle-like character, which is achieved by two polygonal corner towers and a corner bay window. At the entrance to Dominikanergasse, Palais Gleispach is the only palace in the Gries district. In all other districts of Graz there are no palaces, but castles and noble courtyards.

Since Graz was a popular seat for aristocrats and higher officials during the monarchy, there are many castles and palaces in the city. In addition to the numerous palaces in the city centre, it is above all castles and noble courtyards that characterize the appearance of Graz in the peripheral areas. In addition to Eggenberg Castle with its park, the baroque Gösting Castle and Graz Castle, a few buildings are worth mentioning. In the middle of Geidorf is the Meerscheinschlössl, a baroque building with what used to be a spacious park. The Haller Castle and the Lustbühel Castle with an integrated kindergarten are located in Waltendorf. A cadet school was housed in the former Liebenau Castle, and the HIB Liebenau has been located in the premises since the 1970s.

 

The inner-city palaces include the Messe-Schlössl, the Metahof-Schlössl near the train station, the Mühl-Schlössl near the Volksgarten or the Tupay-Schlössl in the former Schönau. St. Martin Castle and St. Veiter Schlössl Castle are prominently located in the outskirts, while Algersdorf Castle, Reinthal Castle, Moosbrunn Castle and Kroisbach Castle are somewhat hidden. In addition to the Graz palaces, there are a number of surviving noble estates, i.e. residences that were often exempt from taxes and were run as estates. One example is the Weisseneggerhof on Esperantoplatz. Most of the facilities are privately owned.

A special feature is the former hunting lodge Karlau. It was embedded in the original Karl-Au area and surrounded by a zoo and the imperial hunting grounds. In addition to water fowl and red deer, falcons, herons and pheasants were bred in the zoo, released into the Mur floodplains and hunted. Even today, a number of street names (Tiergartenweg, Rebhuhnweg, Reiherstadlgasse, Falkenturmgasse, Fasangartengasse, Auf der Tändelwiese) in the area are reminiscent of the zoo and hunting grounds. For example, "Tändel" is an old term for red deer. In the course of its history, the castle was used as a prisoner of war house, from 1769 as a workhouse, until 1803 it was converted into a provincial penal house. After many expansions and conversions, only the core of the Graz-Karlau prison has survived.

monuments and fountains
Graz has a wealth of monuments. The most prominent (selection):
the Marian columns (1666-1670) at the Iron Gate, at Karlauplatz (1762) and at Marienplatz (1680),
the plague columns on Karmeliterplatz (1680), Lendplatz (1680) and Griesplatz (1680), which were donated by the citizenry as votive columns after plague epidemics or enemy invasions.
the plague memorial "Am Damm", a memorial in the form of a chapel from 1680. The increased erection of such plague columns and memorials around the year 1680 arose from gratitude for the end of a plague epidemic in Graz, which, with over 3,500 fatalities, took the lives of around a fifth of the city's population .
The Archduke Johann Fountain (1878) on the main square with a larger-than-life bronze statue of Archduke Johann and allegorical depictions of the four rivers Mur, Enns, Drau and Sann was designed by Franz Pönninger and unveiled on September 8, 1878. Fountain bowls are bordered at the four corners. The bases are decorated with allegorical bronze reliefs. The fountain was originally intended to be set up in the Joanneum Garden or at the Iron Gate. The appearance of some squares and parks in Graz is characterized by fountains. The Major Hackher Monument ("Hackher Lion", 1909) on the Schloßberg is dedicated to the colonel of the same name, who successfully defended the Schloßberg against Napoleon's troops in 1809. In 1909, to commemorate the centenary, Otto Jarl created the first lion sculpture, which, after being melted down in 1943, was not replaced until 1966 by a bronze sculpture by Wilhelm Gösser.

Some squares in the city center of Graz are provided with exposed personal monuments. The larger-than-life monument of Emperor Franz I (1838/41) stands on the Freiheitsplatz, a bronze bust of Joseph II (1887) on the Opernring, the personality monument of Peter Rosegger by Wilhelm Gösser and the Rosarium fountain are in the Roseggergarten. There are numerous monuments and busts in the city park, on the Schloßberg and near the opera, such as the Welden monument. Near the Stadtpark fountain (1873), which was made for the Vienna World Exhibition, on the Human Rights Square are the bronze figures of Austria and Styria by Hans Brandstätter, which were on the former main bridge (currently: Archduke Johann Bridge). The Moritz-Ritter-von-Franck monument is also in the city park. The monument to Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff stands on Tegetthoffplatz, the Maria Grüner Monument, a column with a terracotta vase on top and verses by Louis Bonaparte, Castelli and Anastasius Grün, is in the immediate vicinity of the Mariagrüner Church.

 

Getting there

By plane
1 Graz-Thalerhof Airport (IATA: GRZ), Flughafen Graz Betriebs GmbH, 8073 Feldkirchen / Graz. Tel .: +43 (0) 316 290 20, fax: +43 (0) 316 29 02 81, e-mail: info@flughafen-graz.at.

Graz-Thalerhof Airport is located a few kilometers south of the city in the local areas of Feldkirchen bei Graz and Kalsdorf bei Graz. This airport can be reached directly from Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Vienna. There is an S-Bahn station near the airport (approx. 400 m). From there you can take the S5 to Graz Central Station. Alternatively, you can take the bus (lines 630, 631) directly to the city center (Jakominiplatz) (an hourly ticket costs € 2.40 and is valid for all inner-city transport). A taxi ride to the city center costs around € 24.

Since autumn 2016 there have been direct bus connections from Vienna Airport to Graz (Murpark or Girardigasse) with Flixbus several times a day. The journey time is just under 2.5 hours, tickets are available from 12.50. The Girardigasse stop is in the immediate vicinity of the central Jakominiplatz transfer station. Line X96 goes to Vienna Airport, line 096 to various stops in the capital.

By train
2 Graz Central Station, Europaplatz 3–9, 8020 Graz. The main station is at the end of Annenstrasse. There are regular train connections to Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck as well as to neighboring cities in Slovenia (Maribor) and Hungary (Szombathely). Other cities abroad are Prague, Zurich, Ljubljana, Frankfurt am Main, Saarbrücken and Zagreb. There is a connection to both the tram and the bus network. To get to the old town, take tram lines 1, 3, 6 or 7 or walk (approx. 15 minutes) along Annenstraße and then cross the bridge over the Mur. edit info

By bus
RegioBus Styria (network line)
Eurolines
ÖBB IC bus
Flixbus

By street
Graz can be reached from Vienna and Carinthia via the A2 (Südautobahn). Graz can be reached from the north (Salzburg, Upper Austria) as well as from the west (Tyrol, Vorarlberg) or south (Slovenia) via the Pyhrn A9 motorway. The motorways in Austria are generally subject to tolls (vignette).

 

Around the city

On foot
The city center of Graz is largely designated as a pedestrian zone and should therefore best be explored on foot.

Tram
Graz has an extensive tram network (called Bim in Graz) of 59.22 km in length, but no subway. All tram lines run in a star shape from Jakominiplatz to many parts of the city. Tickets can be bought either in tobacconists (kiosk) or directly from the machine in the tram (coins / ATM card).

The following tariffs are available (July 2018):

Hourly ticket: € 2.40 (children up to 15 years / dogs / people with reduced mobility: € 1.20, young people / seniors: € 1.50), for any number of trips up to 60 min. on all trams, buses, suburban trains and on the Schloßbergbahn in the greater Graz area.
24-hour tickets: € 5.30, children up to 15 years: € 2.70, young people up to 19 years of age. Seniors from 63 years: 3.30 €.
Weekly tickets (€ 14.80)
Graz 3-day ticket: € 12.10, incl. 2 children up to 15 years
Block of ten (€ 20.60), a stripe card that can be used either as ten individual hourly tickets in Graz or for regional trips across several zones in the entire Styrian transport network.
Freizeitticket Styria: A day ticket for one person for € 11. Valid for buses, trains and trams in Styria. Except for Railjet trains (RJ), Eurocity trains (EC), Intercity trains (IC), D-trains (repeater trains - only 2nd class), Nightjet trains (NJ), Euronight trains (EN) and the bus routes 311/321 to Vienna. Valid on Saturday, Sunday or public holiday for one calendar day (from 0 to 24 hours). Only valid in local transport.
Note: The senior tariff only applies to senior citizens with a valid VORTEILSCARD from ÖBB.

There is also the option of purchasing a mobile phone ticket. The prerequisite is that you are a private contract customer of A1, Drei, T-Mobile or tele.ring; or is registered with Paybox. (Only for Austrian cell phones!)

Mobility Center - telephone or personal advice Mobil Zentral provides all information on the timetable and tariff

In the mobility center at Jakoministraße 1 in Graz, all services for public transport are combined under one roof for the first time in Austria.

Opening times: Jakoministraße 1, 8010 Graz, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Telephone information:

Mobil Zentral, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: (+43) 0316/820606
Holding Graz (operator of most inner-city transport): (+43) 0316 / 887-8804

 

By bus
There is also an extensive bus network with which all parts of Graz can be reached. All network tickets are also valid for the bus. Like trams, buses run from the early hours of the morning until 11:30 p.m. (last departure from Jakominiplatz in all directions). Afterwards there is a night bus offer for night owls on the weekend, which connects the outskirts with the city center.

By bicycle
A relatively large number of cycle paths and cycle lanes as well as numerous bicycle parking facilities make bicycles the ideal means of transport for shorter distances in the city. In addition to the free bike parking facilities, there is also a covered and guarded parking facility at low cost and bike rental available at the main station.

In the street
If possible, you should avoid traveling to Graz by car. The parking situation in the center is poor, and there is a short-term parking zone throughout the center (€ 0.60 green zone or € 0.90 blue zone, per half an hour). This is largely valid across the board, regardless of the presence of blue floor markings. If it cannot be avoided, there are many underground car parks in the city center. In terms of price, these underground garages (mostly operated by APCOA) are more in the higher range (0-1 h 4 €, each additional 1 hour 4 €), which is why the garage in the Pfauengarten, the Kunsthaus garage and the garage of the Kastner & department store are cheaper alternatives. Öhler (e.g. 1 hour of free parking from a purchase of € 1).

Taxi
There are numerous taxi companies in Graz, the binding basic rate (from the moment you get in) is € 3.90 and each kilometer driven is approx. € 1.30 or € 1.50 (between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., Sundays and public holidays). On most taxis you will find a three-digit or four-digit number, this is the number of the taxi company: The area code for Austria (+43), then the area code for Graz (0316) and the taxi number.

Taxi 878: +43 316 878
Taxi 2801: +433162801
Taxi 889: +43 316 889
A- Taxi Graz. Tel .: +43 316 232 320.

 

History

The first settlements in the area date back to around 3000 BC. occupied. The first secure mention of Graz comes from the year 1140, when Udalrich von Graz testified to a donation. The large Graz market was founded around 1160 on the site of today's main square. In 1379 Graz became a residence of the Habsburgs. Graz withstood several Ottoman attacks in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1585 the first university was founded by Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria. The Reformation was pushed back with the expulsion of the evangelical preachers in 1598 and the closure of the evangelical schools in 1599. In 1619 the entire Habsburg court moved to the Vienna Hofburg. However, Graz remained the capital of the duchy and later crown land of Styria. Graz was occupied by the French several times during the Napoleonic Wars. After their departure, cultural life, economic initiatives and new technical achievements shaped the rapid development of the city until the end of the monarchy in 1918.

Around 1850 Graz became a statutory city. However, with the peace treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye after 1918 Graz was de facto downgraded from an inland city of a large state to a border town of a small state. On June 7, 1920, a hunger revolt called the “cherry hype” broke out. In the course of the "Anschluss" in 1938, the local National Socialists took control of the city even before the arrival of the German troops. Of all Austrian cities, Graz suffered the most air raids during the Second World War – a total of 56. In 1945 Soviet troops and later British troops moved into Graz and stayed until the State Treaty was signed in 1955. In 2003 Graz was the European Capital of Culture. In 2015 Graz became the city of the Reformation in Europe.

 

Geography

Graz is around 150 km southwest of Vienna, on both sides of the Mur, where it ends its breakthrough through the Graz Uplands and enters the Graz Basin. The city almost completely fills the northern part of the Graz Basin from west to east and is surrounded on three sides by mountains that tower up to 400 m above the built-up area. To the south, the urban area opens up into the Grazer Feld.

The highest point in Graz is the Plabutsch at 754 m above sea level. A. in the northwest of the city, the lowest point, at about 330 m above sea level. A., is located where the Mur leaves the city in the south. Within Graz there are two distinctive elevations, the Grazer Schloßberg with the clearly visible Graz clock tower and the Austein with the Calvary.

The next city of national importance is Maribor (Marburg an der Drau) in Slovenia, around 60 km south of Graz. The two cities are linked by increasingly close cultural and economic ties. The Graz-Maribor European region is an example of this.

 

Geology

The mountainous country north of Graz on both sides of the narrow Mur valley is geologically divided in two: Immediately south of the longitudinal furrow of the Mur and Mürz valleys are the last eastern foothills of the central Alpine chains, the gently rounded mountains of the Stub, Glein and Koralpe to the west and the Fischbacher Alps east of the Murquer valley, which runs south from Bruck an der Mur as a breakthrough valley. South of it and immediately north of the Graz Basin is the actual Grazer Bergland, which consists mainly of limestone and shows old karst phenomena with the Lurgrotte and other caves. Embedded in this limestone zone is, for example, the crystalline island of St. Radegund and the nearby local mountain of Graz, the Schöckl. The Central Alpine foothills of crystalline slates that accompany the Mur-Mürz Long Valley Furrow belong to the East-Central Alpine Unit (MOA).

Former Paleozoic sediments and volcanic rocks predominate throughout the Graz Uplands, which became metamorphic rocks under several kilobars of pressure and a few hundred degrees Celsius during the Variscan and Alpine orogeny. This is how fossil-free marble was formed from fossil-bearing limestone, mica slate or paragneiss from sandy-clayey sediments and amphibolite from basic volcanic rock.

 

Hydrology

The Mur River flows through the city of Graz for a length of 15.87 km. In addition to this there are a number of flowing waters. See the list of watercourses in Graz.

 

Population

The population of Graz passed the 100,000 mark around 1870, during the so-called Gründerzeit. As a result, the population rose steadily until the 1970s - partly due to natural growth and immigration, partly due to the incorporation of neighboring towns in 1938 after the annexation of Austria by the National Socialists. From the late 1970s to 2001, the number fell again as many Grazers moved to the surrounding communities.

Although the number of residents with their main residence decreased in these years, there was an increase in residents with a second home at the same time and since 2001 there has been an increase in the number of residents with their main residence. In addition, there are younger working people living in Graz who have their main place of residence with their parents outside of Graz. This poses financial problems for Graz, as the city has to provide the infrastructure for everyone living in and around Graz, but only receives money from the federal government for residents with their main residence. On the other hand, the business location and the construction industry benefit from the mostly younger people who have their second home in Graz. Graz is thus the fastest growing city in Austria. There are around 110,000 households with 52 percent women.

On January 1, 2021, 294,236 people had their main residence in Graz. Including secondary residences, there are 331,264 inhabitants. Not included in the numbers are the 298 reported homeless people in the city.