Graz Castle

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Graz Castle
View of the Graz Castle, on the left part of the Graz Cathedral can be seen

View of the Graz Castle, on the left part of the Graz Cathedral can be seen

Creation time : 1438
Castle type : City castle
Conservation status: preserved parts renovated
Standing position : Aristocratic residence
Geographical location 47 ° 4 '20.7 "  N , 15 ° 26' 32.9"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 4 '20.7 "  N , 15 ° 26' 32.9"  E
Graz Castle (Styria)
Graz Castle

The Graz Castle is located in the east of the old town of Graz , near the Graz Cathedral , and was built from 1438 by Duke Friedrich V , the later Roman-German Emperor Friedrich III. Due to the low defensive value, the castle was connected to the fortress on the Schloßberg via a covered corridor . From 1564 Graz was the capital of Inner Austria and the castle became the seat of the Inner Austrian Archdukes. Because of this position, it was rebuilt and enlarged. After Archduke Ferdinand II was crowned emperor in 1619 and moved to Vienna, the castle lost its function as the seat of the sovereign and was neglected.

In the centuries that followed, renovation work was carried out several times, but only included parts of the building fabric. In 1822 part of the castle was considered dilapidated, and between 1853 and 1854 part of the building was demolished. At the beginning of the 20th century there were again structural extensions and since 1922 the Graz Castle has been the seat of the Styrian governor .

During the Second World War , the building was partially badly damaged and was rebuilt from 1947 onwards. Between 1950 and 1952, new buildings known as the New Castle were built. Today, in addition to the governor's office, there are also some departments of the Styrian provincial government's office.

The castle is only partially open to the public. Only the courtyards and the double spiral staircase can be visited freely.

location

Overview map of Graz Castle and the surrounding buildings

Graz Castle is located at Hofgasse 13–15 in the 1st district of Graz Inner City on a terrace branching off to the southeast from the Schloßberg . Together with the Graz Cathedral opposite , the mausoleum of Ferdinand II and the former Jesuit college, it forms an ensemble of buildings which is also known as the city ​​crown of Graz . The city crown forms the eastern end of the old town. The castle is located on the former city wall and today's castle garden and city ​​park are connected to this in the east .

history

Graz Castle in 1700 on an engraving by A. Trost

Today's castle was built on the site of a late medieval princely yard . This is first mentioned in 1349 as Schreiberhof and should originally have belonged to the castle on Schloßberg . Duke Wilhelm increased the property of the Schreiberhof in 1399 and 1400 through several acquisitions. Wilhelm's nephew Archduke Friedrich V acquired additional properties from 1433. In 1438 he began building a town castle , which was completed in 1453. Under him, the so-called "Friedrichsbau" and the double chapel built in 1446/1447 were built. In the second quarter of the 15th century, the "Friedrichsbau" was also connected to the Graz Cathedral via a two-story corridor. Furthermore, due to the low defense value of the castle, a covered connecting passage to the fortress on the Schloßberg was created to enable the sovereigns to escape quickly in the event of an attack. Archduke Maximilian I had the "Friedrichsbau" extended between 1494 and 1500 with a connecting wing to the other parts of the castle and a stair tower with a double spiral staircase .

Ferdinand I brought the master builder Domenico dell'Allio to Graz in 1545 , who was mainly occupied with the re-fortification of the city, but also built a Renaissance portal and a grand staircase in the castle by 1554. In 1564, Graz became the capital of the inner Austrian states through an inheritance division of the Habsburgs, and the Graz Castle, which was previously not continuously inhabited, remained the seat of the Archdukes of Inner Austria until 1619 . Because of this, the castle was enlarged accordingly.

In order to create space for his court, Archduke Charles II ordered the construction of a new palace building over the medieval city wall in the east between the chamber chapel and the castle gate in 1570/1571 . This building, known as the “Karlsbau”, was built by Marco Antonio Tadei according to plans by Pietro Ferrabosco . Around 1584, the so-called "registry wing" was built in the northern part of the castle, along the city wall by Marco Antonio Tadei. Charles II also attached great importance to the expansion of the gardens and had exotic plants imported and a zoo with lions, tigers and bears laid out. A wooden pipeline leading from the Rosenberg ensured the castle's drinking water supply in 1571 and Sebastian Carlone was commissioned to build three wells. A court orchestra was 1571/1572 on behalf of the wife of Charles II., Maria Anna of Bavaria built 1596/1597 by Sebastian Carlone with stucco provided and Egyd de Rye with frescoes equipped. In 1584 the two-storey connecting corridor to the cathedral was raised. Around 1600 Archduke Ferdinand II had a wing added to the "Friedrichsbau" in the southwest, the so-called "Ferdinand's building". It contained the castle's treasure vault, an art chamber and a library.

When Archduke Ferdinand II became Emperor in 1619 and moved to Vienna, the castle lost its function as the seat of the sovereigns and was only used as an imperial dormitory. On the occasion of the wedding of Leopold I in 1673 and the celebration of hereditary homage to Charles VI. in 1728 major renovation work was carried out on the building fabric. During her reign, Maria Theresa arranged for all works of art, books and files in the castle to be transferred to Vienna. In 1783 Emperor Joseph II appointed the castle to the seat of the gubernial administration and made it a civil servants' castle . As a result, she was no longer attractive even for short stays by the imperial family. It was not until 1822/1823 that the “Karlsbau” and the court chapel were renovated for a visit by Emperor Franz I on the instructions of the imperial governor Ludwig Graf Taaffe and furnished with furniture from Josef Danhauser's workshop, while the remaining parts of the building were partly in disrepair.

In 1853/1854 the "Friedrichsbau", the "Ferdinandsbau", the court chapel, the grand staircase and the transition to the Graz Cathedral were partially demolished . All in all, almost half of the building was destroyed at that time. Fragments of the frescoes from the court chapel were moved to the chapels of Schloss Frauheim and Schloss Groß-Söding in 1853 . The altarpiece, designed by Giulio Licinio in 1571, is now in the Universalmuseum Joanneum together with some dated currency and coat of arms stones . At the beginning of the 20th century, extensions were built around the third castle courtyard. Graz Castle has been the official residence of the Styrian governor since 1922. The "Maximilian" and the rest of the "Friedrichtrakt" were damaged by bombs in 1944. The damage was repaired from 1947/48 and from 1950 to 1952 a new building designed by Harald Bleich was built on the site of the part of the "Friedrichsbau" demolished in 1853/54 .

From 2003 to 2008, the state of Styria invested more than six million euros in the restoration of the Graz castle and the country house . Since 2008 there have been plans to renovate the “Friedrichssaal” in the “Friedrichsbau” and to restore the chamber chapel, where the false ceiling is to be removed. The chamber chapel should also take over its original function. During renovation work in summer 2010, the remains of nine to ten men from the Middle Ages were found. These were recovered during a two-week archaeological excavation. During a facade renovation of a wing integrated into the Karlsbau in the 16th century, a painted wall niche from the late Gothic period was uncovered and provided with protective glazing.

description

Architecture overview

The castle is an extensive two- to four-storey building complex that was built around three courtyards. It was originally included in the medieval city fortifications and today's castle gate is a remnant of the former courtyard wall built by Domenico dell'Allio in 1554. In the past, one corridor led to Graz Cathedral and another, covered corridor to the castle on the Graz Schloßberg . The gate was designed as a Renaissance portal, but lost its Renaissance decoration in 1676 and is now provided with a rectangular rustic frame . The gate wing with iron fittings dates from the time the gate was built.

Friedrichsbau

In 1945 the Friedrichsbau was badly damaged and from 1950 to 1952 the parts of the building that were demolished in 1853/54 were covered with a new building. Remnants of the original building have been preserved. On the eastern outer wall there are several dated stone tablets, which refer to an establishment in 1447 under Emperor Friedrich III. close.

In the north-eastern part of Graz Castle is the irregular, elongated, three-storey Friedrichsbau, which is the oldest part of the castle and whose elongated shape marks the earlier course of the city wall. The outer walls have a smooth facade. In its eastern part there is a protruding chapel . In the north-eastern part of the Friedrichsbau there is a high, late Gothic gate with a wide flying buttress and a rectangular bay window with a double arcade window , from which a bridge used to lead over the moat. There is a beveled arched gate on the eastern side . On the ground floor of the western front there are three walled, pointed arch arcades on polygon pillars.

On the side facing the second courtyard there is a formerly open, two-aisled Gothic hall, the so-called Friedrichshalle, with a star-shaped cell vault , which is supported by a polygonal central pillar. For structural reasons, this pillar was partially encased with a concrete ring.

On the first floor there is the so-called chamber chapel which, according to a dating, was built in 1447. This used to have two floors and was divided by a false ceiling in the 19th century. Today the upper part is a small four-bay room with double choir niches . It is spanned by a ribbed vault resting on narrow wall services with ogival belt and shield arches. The double choir suggests double patronage , for which St. Mary and St. George are accepted. The two-part tracery pointed arch windows are now partially walled up. Two disc keystones bear the motto of Emperor Friedrich III. and date to the year 1447. On the choir tongue wall there is a polygonal wall service with a console with a relief of an eagle. The key leaf on the entrance door is shaped like a guard armed with a lance and dates from the 17th century. The upper part of the chapel is now used as a meeting room, while the lower part has been converted into a storage room.

Castle gate

View from the east of the castle gate

The castle gate, first mentioned in a document in 1346 and rebuilt in the middle of the 15th century, is located in the southern part of the castle. The original crown in the style of the late Renaissance to that of the country house resembled was removed in 1676th It has a passage spanned by a barrel vault with beveled pointed arch gates. On the eastern facade there are glazed, two-storey column arcades over pillar arcades from the years 1566/67. The arcades were renewed in 1952. The northern passage was built in 1873 and the southern one in 1934, according to an inscription.

Maximilianbau

The stair tower in which the double spiral staircase is located

The Maximilianbau is a narrow, four-story building in the south of the castle complex, which was built between 1494 and 1500. It was damaged by bombs during World War II and partially renovated in 1949. The external facades are smooth. On the south side there is a late Gothic , beveled, flat arch gate that leads through a barrel-vaulted passage into the second courtyard. Above the gate there is a stone tablet dated 1453 with the inscription AEIOU , the motto of Emperor Friedrich III. (HRR) . There is also a stone coat of arms of Empress Eleonore Helena of Portugal in relief . The flat arched gate on the other side of the passage is profiled and also designed in the late Gothic style. Above this gate there is a stone tablet dated 1495 as well as late Gothic double windows with a barred keel arch - lintel .

The southern staircase has a wrought iron door from the third quarter of the 18th century with a forged warrior figure from the 17th century. In an alcove painted Fritz Silberbauer in 1951 a fresco-secco showing the reconstruction of the castle in the year 1949th

In the southwest of the Maximiliansbau there is a four-storey staircase tower built in 1499 and 1500, in which there is a double spiral staircase . The stair tower has a polygonal floor plan as well as smooth external facades and cross-linked window frames made of stone. In 1506 the grave stele of Belatullus from the first or second century and the grave stele of C. Duronius Martialis from the middle of the second century were built into the walls of the tower. The tower is entered through a shoulder arch portal made of red marble with a stonemason's mark .

The staircase is considered one of the most remarkable examples of late Gothic architecture and stone carving and was restored in 1955 and 1976/1977. It has two-armed flights of stairs that lead up to the second floor around stone spindles over an elliptical floor plan. Above that, both runs are self-supporting and only anchored in the wall. The two barrels meet again, floor by floor. There are fish blisters on the cheeks - tracery . In two of the upper floors there are barbed keel arch portals and on the last floor a rectangular portal.

Karlsbau

View from the Burggarten to the Karlsbau with the arbor
The wall niche exposed in summer 2013 with the late Gothic paintings

In the years 1570 and 1571, according to plans by the imperial court architect Pietro Ferrabosco, the Karlsbau was built to the south-east of the Friedrichs- and Maximilianbau. This is two to four storeys high and has smooth exterior facades and a high hip gable roof . In 1968, the eastern front and the roof were repaired. The rest of the outside was restored in 1970.

The tombstone of Rabbi Nissim, who died in 1387, from an abandoned Jewish cemetery was walled into the western outer wall. The eastern facade has stone window frames that date from the construction period. The arbor was added in 1836 and later renewed. It has a wrought-iron lattice wing from the second half of the 18th century. The facade on the south side is fragmented and was restored in 1952. On this side there is a massive round arch - Bossenstein portal that was built in the third quarter of the 16th century. It has a gate wing covered with sheet metal, the fittings of which probably date from 1618. Above the gate one can find the entablature decorated with a frieze of consoles and a tooth cut . Furthermore, on the south side, one can find the remains of a colonnade walled up in 1832, the so-called trumpeter passage, as well as a rectangular bay on profiled corbels . To the right of the bay is a stone dated 1463 with the motto Emperor Friedrich III. walled in. On the facade facing the first courtyard, an approximately 70 centimeter deep, late Gothic wall niche, painted with floral and bird motifs, was discovered in the summer of 2013 and provided with glazing. This was previously walled up and narrows in a funnel shape to a window-like opening on the rear wall. This suggests that it might be a former aviary or an entry and exit hole for ornamental pheasants kept in the building.

The entrance to the Karlsbau has a flat ceiling resting on stone pillars. In the southeast, a two-armed staircase with stone carvings by Peter Pokorny was added from 1846 to 1847, which replaced a staircase from the Renaissance period. The rooms on the ground floor are spanned by groin vaults. Most of the rooms on the upper floors were refurbished during the 19th century. There are several stucco ceilings from the second quarter of the 19th century on both floors . Inside the Karlsbau there is a walled-up arcade arch and a piece of entablature in relief, which is decorated with antique decor. In one of the spandrels is a sandstone scrollwork catusche made in 1550 or 1552 , which bears the relief of a one-headed eagle, the coat of arms of King Ferdinand I. It was restored in 1976. Some tiled stoves from the end of the 18th and the first quarter of the 19th centuries have been preserved to this day. Some of the furnishings and paintings in today's representative rooms are on loan from the Universalmuseum Joanneum . A part of the Biedermeier furniture made by Joseph Ulrich Danhauser in 1823 also still exists.

Filing system

The so-called registry wing, located in the northern part of the castle, was built between 1581 and 1585 and a part was probably built in 1591 by Marc Antonio Tadei , including the former medieval city wall . The originally two-storey, elongated, 15-axis building was extended in 1917 and 1918 according to plans by Franz Drobny . It had two-storey column arcades from the Renaissance, which were walled up on the upper floor in 1918. The sgraffiti in the arches represent stylized foliage, while a dazzling balustrade can be found on the upper floor.

New castle and other new buildings

View into the first courtyard. On the left you can see the Neue Burg and straight ahead the Maximilianbau

Between 1950 and 1952, a three to four-storey new building, the so-called New Castle, was built in the south and west of the first and second courtyard on the part of the Friedrichsbau that was demolished in 1853/54. A sandstone relief by Alexander Wahl from 1952 is attached to the southern outer wall , while a sgraffito painted in the same year by Fritz Silberbauer shows the coats of arms of Graz and Austria in the south-eastern corner of the building. In the corridor of the new building, Alfred Wickenburg painted several wall frescoes in 1952, depicting views of Graz and the city's art monuments.

In 1959, the Styrian Honor Gallery was laid out in the second courtyard, made up of marble portrait busts of Hugo Wolf , Josef Stammel , Johann Joseph Fux , Peter Rosegger , Peter Tunner , Viktor Kaplan , Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach , August Musger , Ulrich von Liechtenstein , Alexander Girardi , Anna Plochl and Paula Grogger . These busts were made by Erwin Huber , Othmar Klemencic , Ulf Mayer , Josef Papst , Gottfried Prabitz , Alfred Schlosser , Erich Unterweger , Lia Rigler and Margarete Wilburg .

  • Alexander Girardi by Erich Unterweger

  • Anna Plochl by Lia Rigler

  • August Musger by Gottfried Prabitz

  • Hugo Wolf by Erwin Huber

  • Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach from Josef Papst

  • Johann Josef Fux by Othmar Klemencic

  • Josef Thaddäus Stammel by Erwin Huber

  • Paula Grogger by Margarete Wilburg

  • Peter Rosegger by Othmar Klemencic

  • Peter Tunner by Ulf Mayer

  • Ulrich von Liechtenstein by Alfred Schlosser

  • Viktor Kaplan from Joseph Pope

Burggarten

The castle bastion , built between 1556 and 1562, was transformed into a pleasure garden by the court gardener Archduke Karl II. Hans Richter in 1568 . Today's Burggarten emerged from this pleasure garden . This was originally much larger, but Empress Maria Theresia ceded parts of it to the Styrian state estates, which had the Graz playhouse built on it.

The garden's glass house was erected in 1841. On the former bastion are two sandstone figures of Samson and Heracles from the end of the 17th century, which were transferred here from the vestibule of the dyer's barracks, which was demolished in 1904. There are also statues of the personified Lex , Justitia , the Graz Panther and a group of putti made by Anton Kakon between 1806 and 1807 . These statues originally stood on the attic of the old, neoclassical Graz town hall . In the garden there is a liberation memorial made in 1955 by Wolfgang Skala . At the water system there is a group of dragonflies designed by Alexander Wahl in 1961.

  • Grazer Panther at the former bastion

  • Statue of Lady Justice on the former bastion

  • Statue of Heracles on the former bastion. The liberation monument is on the left

  • Statue of Samson on the former bastion

  • Statue of Lex on the former bastion

  • Group of putti at the former bastion

literature

  • Eva Klein, Markus Zechner: Bird splendor and imperial power. Building genetic and art-scientific development of the newly found wall opening adorned with wall paintings on the courtyard side of the Karlstrakt of Graz Castle , in: Stadtgeschichte Aktuell. Archaeological forays around Graz Castle (= Historical Yearbook of the City of Graz, Vol. 43), Graz 2013, pp. 199–218.
  • Federal Monuments Office (ed.): Dehio Graz . 2nd Edition. Berger, Horn / Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-7031-0475-9 , pp. 48-50 .
  • Robert Baravalle: Castles and palaces of Styria . Leykam, Graz 1995, ISBN 3-7011-7323-0 , p. 5 (reprint from 1961).
  • Wolfgang Absenger, Manuela Legen: The Graz castle and residence in the time of Friedrich III. and Maximilian I. Findings and questions on building genesis of the 15th and early 16th centuries. In: Ulrich Becker u. a. (Ed.): I let that go blissfully. Contributions to late Gothic art in Styria. Graz 2001, ISBN 978-3-902095-35-0 , pp. 20-55.

Web links

Commons : Grazer Burg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Entry about Grazer Burg in Burgen-Austria
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.): Dehio Graz . 2nd Edition. Berger, Horn / Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-7031-0475-9 , pp. 48-50 .
  3. ↑ a b Lord of the castle Voves also becomes a pastor. In: Small newspaper. www.kleinezeitung.at, August 23, 2008, archived from the original on September 27, 2013 .;
  4. ↑ a b Monument Styria. Association for the Preservation of Monuments in Styria (Ed.): The Chamber Chapel in the Graz Castle . [1] (PDF; 3.8 MB)
  5. ↑ Archaeological excavation under Grazer Burg finished. In: Small newspaper. www.kleinezeitung.at, August 13, 2010, archived from the original on September 14, 2014 .;
  6. ↑ a b Painted wall niche discovered in Graz Castle. In: Kommunikation Land Steiermark. www.kommunikation.steiermark.at, November 4, 2013, accessed on November 18, 2013 .
  7. ^ Robert Baravalle: Castles and palaces of Styria . Leykam, Graz 1995, ISBN 3-7011-7323-0 , p. 5 (reprint from 1961).
  8. ^ Eva Klein, Markus Zechner: Vogelpracht und Kaisermacht. Building genetic and art-scientific development of the newly found wall opening adorned with wall paintings on the courtyard side of the Karlstrakt of Graz Castle , in: Stadtgeschichte Aktuell. Archaeological forays around Graz Castle (= Historical Yearbook of the City of Graz, Vol. 43), Graz 2013, pp. 199–218.