Graz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Graz
Statutory city
From top down, left to right: Main Square with City Hall, Typical street in Graz, Clock Tower on Castle Hill (Schlossberg), University of Technology, Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Flag Coat of arms
Graz Location in Styria Show map of Styria Graz Location in Austria Show map of Austria
Country	Austria
Federal state	Styria
District	Statutory city
Elevation	353 m (1,158 ft)
Population  (1 January 2024)
• Total	303,270
Demonym(s)	Grazer
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	A-801x, A-802x, A-803x, A-804x, A-805x
Area code	+43 316
Vehicle registration	G
Website	www.graz.at
UNESCO World Heritage Site Official name City of Graz – Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg Criteria Cultural: ii, iv Inscription 1999 (23rd Session) Extensions 2010

Graz (German: [ɡʁaːts]) is the capital of the Austrian federal state of Styria and the second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. As of 1 January 2024, Graz had a population of 303,270. In 2023, the population of the Graz larger urban zone (LUZ) stood at 660,238. Graz is known as a college and university city, with four colleges and four universities. Combined, the city is home to more than 60,000 students. Its historic centre (Altstadt) is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.

In 1999, the city's historic centre was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and in 2010 the designation was expanded to include Eggenberg Palace (German: Schloss Eggenberg) on the western edge of the city. Graz was designated the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003 and became a City of Culinary Delights in 2008.

Etymology

The name of the city, Graz, formerly spelled Gratz and also formlerly known as Grätz, most likely stems from the Slavic gradec/gradac, which means "small castle". Some archaeological finds point to the erection of a small castle by Alpine Slavic people, who settled in the region after the Barbarian invasions drove out the original Celts, as well as the Romans. In literary Slovene, gradec still means "small castle", forming a hypocoristic derivative of Proto-West-South Slavic *gradьcъ, which descends via liquid metathesis from Common Slavic *gardьcъ and via the Slavic third palatalisation from Proto-Slavic *gardiku, originally denoting "small town, settlement". The name thus follows the common South Slavic pattern for naming settlements as grad. Despite the Slavic root of the name, however, the city of Graz was founded by Bavarian settlers who arrived shortly after the Slavs, with which they intermixed. The city's name first appears in records in 1128, a record of 'Grez' from 1091 is disputed.

Geography

Aerial photograph showing the historic centre of Graz

Graz is situated on both sides of the river Mur in southeast Austria. It is about 150 km (93 mi) southwest of Vienna (Wien). The nearest larger urban centre is Maribor (Marburg) in Slovenia, which is about 50 km (31 mi) to the south. Graz is the capital of Styria and the largest city in the federal state, a green and heavily forested region on the eastern edge of the Alps. It is located in the Graz Basin and surrounded by mountains and hills to the north, east and west. The city centre sits at an elevation of 353 m (1,158 ft), the highest point is Plabutsch mountain with 754 m (2,474 ft) at the western border. The mountain Schöckl is just a few kilometres to the north and surmounts the city by 1,100 m (3,600 ft).

Hilmteich

Neighbouring municipalities

These towns and villages border Graz:

• to the north: Gratkorn, Stattegg, Weinitzen
• to the east: Kainbach bei Graz, Hart bei Graz, Raaba
• to the south: Gössendorf, Feldkirchen bei Graz, Seiersberg
• to the west: Attendorf, Thal, Judendorf-Straßengel

Districts

Graz is divided into 17 municipal districts (Stadtbezirke):

History

Graz, Georg Matthäus Vischer (1670)

Graz, 1830 – Lith. J.F. Kaiser

Neutor in 1883

University of Graz

The oldest settlement on the ground of the modern city of Graz dates back to the Copper Age. However, no historical continuity exists of a settlement before the Middle Ages. The city was originally called "Bayrischgraz" or "Bavarian Graz" (i.e. German Graz) by the German founders to distinguish it from the elder "Windischgraz" or "Slovenian Graz". Bavarian Graz, however, soon eclipsed its Slovenian counterpart and henceforth Graz always referred to the German one.

During the 12th century, dukes under Babenberg rule made the town into an important commercial center. Later, Graz came under the rule of the Habsburgs and, in 1281, gained special privileges from King Rudolph I.

In the 14th century, Graz became the city of residence of the Inner Austrian line of the Habsburgs. The royalty lived in the Schlossberg castle and from there ruled Styria, Carinthia, most of today's Slovenia, and parts of Italy (Carniola, Gorizia and Gradisca, Trieste).

In the 16th century, the city's design and planning were primarily controlled by Italian Renaissance architects and artists. One of the most famous buildings representative of this style is the Landhaus, designed by Domenico dell'Allio, and used by the local rulers as a governmental headquarters.

Landhaus

Hauptplatz

The University of Graz was founded by Archduke Karl II in 1585, it is the city's oldest university. For most of its existence, it was controlled by the Catholic Church, and was closed in 1782 by Joseph II in an attempt to gain state control over educational institutions. Joseph II transformed it into a lyceum where civil servants and medical personnel were trained. In 1827 it was re-established as a university by Emperor Franz I, and was named 'Karl-Franzens Universität' or 'Charles-Francis University' in English. More than 30,000 students are currently enrolled at this university.

Astronomer Johannes Kepler lived in Graz for a short period beginning in 1594. He worked as district mathematician and taught at the Lutheran school, but still found time to study astronomy. He left Graz for Prague in 1600 when Protestants were banned from the city.

Ludwig Boltzmann was Professor for Mathematical Physics from 1869 to 1890. During that time, Nikola Tesla studied electrical engineering at the Polytechnic in 1875.

Nobel laureate Otto Loewi taught at the University of Graz from 1909 until 1938. Ivo Andrić, the 1961 Nobel Prize for Literature laureate obtained his doctorate at the University of Graz. Erwin Schrödinger was briefly chancellor of the University of Graz in 1936.

Graz is centrally located within today's Bundesland (state) of Styria, or Steiermark in German. Mark is an old German word indicating a large area of land used as a defensive border, in which the peasantry is taught how to organize and fight in the case of an invasion. With a strategic location at the head of the open and fertile Mur valley, Graz was historically a target of invaders, such as the Hungarians under Matthias Corvinus in 1481, and the Ottoman Turks in 1529 and 1532. Apart from the Riegersburg Castle, the Schlossberg was the only fortification in the region that never fell to the Ottoman Turks. Graz is home to the region's provincial armory, which is the world's largest historical collection of late medieval and Renaissance weaponry. It has been preserved since 1551, and displays over 30,000 items.

From the earlier part of the 15th century, Graz was the residence of the younger branch of the Habsburgs, which succeeded to the imperial throne in 1619 in the person of Emperor Ferdinand II, who moved the capital to Vienna. New fortifications were built on the Schlossberg at the end of the 16th century. Napoleon's army occupied Graz in 1797 and, in 1809 the city withstood another assault by the French army. During this attack, the commanding officer in the fortress was ordered to defend it with about 900 men against Napoleon's army of about 3,000. He successfully defended the Schlossberg against eight attacks, but they were forced to give up after the Grande Armée occupied Vienna and the Emperor ordered to surrender. Following the defeat of Austria by Napoleonic forces at the Battle of Wagram in 1809, the fortifications were demolished using explosives, as stipulated in the Peace of Schönbrunn of the same year. The belltower (Glockenturm) and the civic clock tower (Uhrturm), which is a leading tourist attraction and serves as a symbol for Graz, were spared after the citizens of Graz paid a ransom for their preservation.

Archduke Karl II of Inner Austria had 20,000 Protestant books burned in the square of what is now a mental hospital, and succeeded in returning Styria to the authority of the Holy See. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz in what is now the Stadtmuseum (city museum).

On 2 April 1945, while the heaviest Allied bomb raid of Graz occurred, the Gestapo and Waffen-SS committed a massacre against resistance fighters, Hungarian-Jewish forced laborers, and POWs at the SS barracks at Graz-Wetzelsdorf.

Population development

These figures only include those with primary residence status ("Hauptwohnsitz"). As of 1 January 2024, the city had a total population of 339,810, of which 36,196 (10.7 %) held secondary residence status and 344 had no residence.

Largest groups of foreign nationals

Nationality	Population (1 January 2023)
Croatia	11,196
Romania	10,305
Germany	9,226
Bosnia and Herzegovina	7,598
Turkey	5,837
Hungary	4,723
Ukraine	3,429
Syria	3,354
Afghanistan	3,349
Slovenia	3,141
Russia	2,575
Italy	2,553
Kosovo	1,873
Serbia	1,823
Slovakia	1,620

Climate

Graz has an oceanic climate (Cfb), but due to the 0 °C isotherm, the same occurs in a borderline humid continental climate (Dfb) according to the Köppen climate classification. Wladimir Köppen himself was in town and conducted studies to see how the climate of the past influenced the Continental Drift theory. Due to its position southeast of the Alps, Graz is shielded from the prevailing westerly winds that bring weather fronts in from the North Atlantic to northwestern and central Europe. The weather in Graz is thus influenced by the Mediterranean, and it has more hours of sunshine per year than Vienna or Salzburg and also less wind or rain. Graz lies in a basin that is only open to the south, causing the climate to be warmer than would be expected at that latitude. Plants are found in Graz that normally grow much further south.

• average temperatures: Graz Airport 8.7 °C (48 °F) / Karl-Franzens University 9.4 °C (49 °F)
• average rainfall: 818 mm (32 in) with on average 92 days of rain (Karl Franzens University)
• average hours of sunshine: 1,989 (Karl Franzens University)

Slovene minority in Graz

Graz, being the capital of the then multiethnic Duchy of Styria, was also a centre of Slovene culture, especially from the establishment of the University of Graz in 1586 until the establishment of the University of Ljubljana in 1919. In 1574, the first Slovene Catholic book [sl] was published in Graz, and in 1592, Hieronymus Megiser published in Graz the book Dictionarium quatuor linguarum, the first multilingual dictionary of Slovene.

In the 19th century the student associations in Graz were a crucible of Slovene nationalism and some Slovene students there were more nationally aware than other Slovenes. This led to fierce anti-Slovene efforts by the German supermajority in Graz before and during World War II. It must be noted that Slovenes only ever constituted a tiny minority in the city. This is also why Peter Kozler did not include it in his controversial map.

Nowadays, some Slovenian Styrians study and some have found employment there, whiles being formerly unemployed in Slovenia.

A symposium on the relation of Graz and the Slovenes was held in Graz in 2010, at the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the first and oldest chair of Slovene. It was established at the Lyzeum of Graz in July 1811 on the initiative of Janez Nepomuk Primic [sl]. A collection of lectures on the topic was published. The Slovenian Post commemorated the anniversary with a stamp.

Main sights

A panoramic view of the historic centre from the Castle Hill (Schlossberg)

For the year that Graz was Cultural Capital of Europe, new structures were erected. The Graz Museum of Contemporary Art (German: Kunsthaus) was designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier and is situated next to the Mur river. The Island in the Mur is a floating platform made of steel. It was designed by American architect Vito Acconci and contains a café, an open-air theatre and a playground.

Historic city centre

The Castle Hill with the Clock Tower

The Castle Hill stairs (Felsensteig)

The historic centre was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 due to the harmonious co-existence of typical buildings from different epochs and in different architectural styles. Situated in a cultural borderland between Central Europe, Italy and the Balkan States, Graz absorbed various influences from the neighbouring regions and thus received its exceptional townscape. Today the historic centre consists of over 1,000 buildings, their age ranging from Gothic to contemporary.

The most important sights in the historic centre are:

• Town Hall (Rathaus).
• The Castle Hill (German: Schlossberg), a hill dominating the historic centre (475 m (1,558.40 ft) high), site of a demolished fortress, with views over Graz.
• The Clock Tower (Uhrturm) is a symbol of Graz, at the top of the Castle Hill.
• The New Gallery (Neue Galerie), a museum of art.
• The Castle Hill funicular (Schlossbergbahn), a funicular railway on the Castle Hill's slope.
• The seat of Styria's provincial parliament (Landhaus), a palace in Lombardic style. It is one of the most important examples of Renaissance architecture in Austria and was built by Italian architect Domenico dell'Allio between 1557 and 1565.
• The Armoury (Landeszeughaus) is the largest of its kind in the world.
• The Opera House (Opernhaus), the principal venue for opera, ballet, and operetta performances. It is the 2nd largest opera house in Austria.
• The Theatre (Schauspielhaus), Graz's principal theatre for productions of plays.
• The Cathedral (Dom), a rare monument of Gothic architecture. Once, there were many frescos on the outer walls; today, only a few remain, like the Landplagenbild ("picture of plagues") painted in 1485, presumably by Thomas von Villach. The three plagues it depicts are locusts, pestilence and the invasion of the Turks, all of them striking the town in 1480. It features the oldest painted view of Graz.
• The mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II next to the cathedral, the most important building of Mannerism in Graz. It includes both the grave where Ferdinand II and his wife are buried, and a church dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria.
• The City Park (Stadtpark), located in the middle of the city centre during the Habsburg monarchy. It was designed by German architect Johannes Schirgie von Premstätten-Tobelbad. During the COVID-19 pandemic eccentric parties were celebrated which were later dissolved by the police. The responsible, Jonas Fabio Cristo Pinter, an Italian club owner, was arrested and the partying stopped. The City Park (Stadtpark) should not be confused with a similarly named shopping centre in Graz, called Citypark.
• The Castle (Burg), with a Gothic double-helix staircase, built between 1438 and 1453 by Emperor Frederick III, because the old castle on the Castle Hill was too small and uncomfortable. The Castle remained the residence of the Inner Austrian Court until 1619. Today, it serves as residence for the Styrian government.
• The Painted House (Gemaltes Haus) in Herrengasse 3. It is completely covered with frescos (painted in 1742 by Johann Mayer).
• The Graz Museum of Contemporary Art (Kunsthaus)
• The Island in the Mur (Murinsel), an artificial island in the Mur river.
• Buildings, inner courtyards (e. g. Early Renaissance courtyard of the Former House of Teutonic Knights in Sporgasse 22) and roofscape of the old town.

Outside the historic city centre

Eggenberg Palace

• Eggenberg Palace (Schloss Eggenberg) a baroque palace on the western edge of Graz with State rooms and museum. In 2010 it was added to the existing World Heritage site of the historic centre of Graz.
• The Mariatrost Basilica (Basilika Mariatrost) a late Baroque church, on the eastern edge of Graz.
• The Jesus's Heart Church (Herz-Jesu-Kirche) is the largest church in Graz with the third highest spire in Austria, built in Gothic Revival style by Daniel Schmidbauer (Austrian politician and doctor).
• The Calvary Hill (Kalvarienberg) in the Gösting area of Graz with a 17th-century calvary and church.
• The Graz University Hospital is the largest hospital in Graz and one of the largest hospitals in Austria. It is the largest Jugendstil building complex in Austria and was built between 1904 and 1912. It is run by the federal state Styria and is one of the most renowned hospitals in Austria and Central Europe.
• The Gösting Ruin (Ruine Gösting), a ruin of a hilltop castle on the city's northwestern edge, and Plabutsch/Fürstenstand, behind Eggenberg Palace, with a hilltop restaurant and viewing tower, as well as Buchkogel/Kronprinz-Rudolf-Warte are viewpoints for vistas of the city.

Greater Graz area

• Österreichisches Freilichtmuseum Stübing, an open-air museum containing old farmhouses/farm buildings from all over Austria reassembled in historic setting.
• Lurgrotte, the most extensive cave system in Austria.
• Lipizzanergestüt Piber, Lipizzaner stud at Piber where the famous horses are bred.
• The Steirische Weinstraße is a wine-growing region south of Graz, also known as the "Styrian Tuscany".
• Thermenregion, spa region east of Graz.
• Riegersburg Castle, a mighty fortress that was never taken. It was a bastion against Turkish invasions

Culture

During 2003 Graz held the title of "European Capital of Culture" and was one of the UNESCO "Cities of Design" in 2011.

Museums

The Graz Museum of Contemporary Art (Kunsthaus)

Tramway Museum

View from the Castle Hill (Schlossberg) with the Museum of Contemporary Art (Kunsthaus) in the centre

The most important museums in Graz are:

• Eggenberg Palace (Schloss Eggenberg) with the Old Gallery (Alte Galerie) (paintings and sculptures from the Romanesque to the end of the Baroque period), Coin Collection, Lapidarium (Roman stonework collection), Archaeological Museum (featuring the Cult Wagon of Strettweg) a special exhibitions area and the 90,000 m² romantic landscape gardens.
• Museum in the Palace (Museum im Palais): museum of Styrian cultural history from the Middle Ages to the present.
• New Gallery (Neue Galerie): visual arts from the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Natural History Museum: exhibition of botany, mineralogy and zoology.
• Graz City Museum (Stadtmuseum Graz)
• Museum of Contemporary Art (Kunsthaus)
• City Park Forum (Forum Stadtpark): museum of contemporary art.
• Camera Austria: museum of contemporary photography.
• Armoury (Landeszeughaus): medieval armoury comprising 32,000 pieces of armour and weaponry, largest of its kind in the world.
• Folklore Museum (Volkskundemuseum): museum of folk culture and folklore.
• Diocesan Museum (Diözesanmuseum): museum of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Artists House (Künstlerhaus): exhibition hall of contemporary visual arts.
• Literature House (Literaturhaus): museum of contemporary German literature.
• Museum of Perception (Museum der Wahrnehmung): museum of the senses, samadhi bath.
• Children's Museum Frida & Fred (Kindermuseum Frida & Fred): museum for children.
• Tram Museum: 40 historic trams, the oldest dating from 1873.
• Kriminalmuseum: museum of criminology.
• Aviation Museum (Luftfahrtmuseum): situated at Graz Airport.
• Hanns Schell Collection: key and lock museum, largest of its kind in the world.
• Austrian Sculpture Park: seven hectares of contemporary sculpture.
• Botanical Garden of Graz: three architecturally interesting glass houses plus gardens.

Architecture

The city centre and the adjacent districts are characterized by the historic residential buildings and churches. In the outer districts buildings are predominantly of the architectural styles from the second half of the 20th century.

In 1965 the Graz School (Grazer Schule) was founded. Several buildings around the universities are of this style, e.g. the green houses by Volker Giencke and the RESOWI Centre by Günther Domenig.

Before Graz became European Capital of Culture in 2003, several new projects were realized, such as the Stadthalle - a multifunctional space for e.g. conventions and concerts -, the Children's Museum (Kindermuseum), the Helmut-List-Halle, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Kunsthaus) and the Island in the Mur (Murinsel).

• Tallest buildings

Jeusus's Heart Church (Herz-Jesu-Kirche)

Buildings in Graz which are at least 50m tall:

Sports

Merkur Arena Graz

SK Sturm Graz is the main football club of the city, with Four Austrian championships, 5 Austrian Cup wins and 4 participations in the Champions League (where they were 1st in the first group stage in 2000/01 and therefore got promoted to the round of 16 as the first Austrian club ever). Grazer AK also won an Austrian championship, but went into administration in 2007 and was excluded from the professional league system.

In ice hockey, ATSE Graz was the Austrian Hockey League champion in 1975 and 1978. EC Graz was runner-up in 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1993–94. Graz 99ers has played in the first division since 2000.

UBSC Raiffeisen Graz plays in the Austrian Basketball League.

Graz Giants play in the Austrian Football League (American Football).

The city bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, but lost the election to Salt Lake City.

Styriarte

Graz hosts the annual festival of classical music Styriarte, founded in 1985 to tie conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt closer to his hometown. Events have been held at different venues in Graz and in the surrounding region.

Dialect

Referred to as Steirisch by locals, Graz belongs to the Austro-Bavarian region of dialects, more specifically a mix of Central Bavarian in the western part of Styria and Southern Bavarian in the eastern part. The Grazer ORF, the Graz subsidiary of Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, launched an initiative in 2008 called Scho wieda Steirisch g'redt to highlight the numerous dialects of Graz and Styria in general and to cultivate the pride many Styrians hold for their local culture. Two reasons for a melding of these dialects with Standard German: the influence of television and radio bringing Standard German into the home and the industrialization causing the disappearance of the single farmer since the farming communities are seen as the true keepers of dialect speaking.

Transport

Tram at Jakomini square (Jakominiplatz)

Graz Airport

An extensive public transport network makes Graz an easy city to navigate without a car. The city has a comprehensive bus network, complementing the Graz tram network, which has six lines. Four lines pass through the underground tram stop at the central train station (Hauptbahnhof) and on to the city centre before branching out. Furthermore, there are eight night-time bus routes, although these run only at weekends and on evenings preceding public holidays.

The Castle Hill funicular (Schlossbergbahn), and the Castle Hill lift (Schlossberg lift), a vertical lift, link the city centre to the Castle Hill (Schlossberg).

Graz Central Railway Station

From the central train station (Hauptbahnhof), regional trains link to most of Styria. Direct trains run to most major cities nearby including Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Maribor and Ljubljana in Slovenia, Zagreb in Croatia, Budapest in Hungary, Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic, Zürich in Switzerland, as well as Munich, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, and Frankfurt in Germany. Trains for Vienna leave every hour. In recent years many railway stations within the city limits and in the suburbs have been rebuilt or modernised and are now part of the Styria S-Bahn, a commuter train service connecting the city with its suburban area and towns nearby.

Graz Airport is located about 10 km (6 mi) south of the city centre and is accessible by bus, railway, taxi and car. Direct destinations include Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna and Zurich. In 2021 a two-line metro system was proposed for Graz, which would make Graz the second Austrian city with a rapid transit system after Vienna.

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Graz is twinned with:

Other forms of cooperation and city friendship similar to the twin city programmes

• Niš, Serbia
• Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Notable residents

The following are some past and present notable residents of Graz.

See also

In Spanish: Graz para niños