Places to visit in Styria

Styria covers around 16,400 square kilometres, and more than half of the area is forest. The north is Alpine and reaches as far as the Dachstein; in the middle, alpine pastures and the Graz Basin shape the landscape; in the south, vineyards alternate with the plains of the Thermenland (‘spa country’). The Mur flows through the province; the provincial capital is Graz. In the Gesäuse lies a national park.

In Roman times the town of Flavia Solva lay near Leibnitz. Styria takes its name from the castle of Steyr in present-day Upper Austria. In 1180 it was raised to a duchy. In 1186 the first Styrian duke concluded on the Georgenberg near Enns an inheritance contract with the Austrian Duke Leopold V, the Georgenberger Handfeste (Georgenberg Pact). With the death of the Styrian duke in 1192 the line of the Otakars died out, and Styria was united with Austria.

The historic centre of Graz became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, and in 2010 Schloss Eggenberg was added. The World Heritage Site includes, among other things, the Schlossberg (‘castle hill’), the inner city and parts of the Murvorstadt (the suburb on the Mur). On the Schlossberg stands the Uhrturm (Clock Tower). Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg had Schloss Eggenberg built in the 17th century; the complex with four corner towers is regarded as an architectural image of the cosmic order and is surrounded by a park.

Mariazell is a place of pilgrimage with a basilica; according to tradition it goes back to a monk from St Lambrecht Abbey. Admont Abbey, a Benedictine abbey founded in the 11th century, is known for its abbey library. On the Erzberg near Eisenerz, ore is extracted by open-cast mining; visitors can experience the open-cast mine in the ‘Hauly’, a converted heavy-duty truck. On a volcanic rock above the hill country of south-eastern Styria stands Riegersburg Castle, with a castle museum, a witches’ museum and a weapons museum.