Schloss Eggenberg (Eggenberg Castle), Graz (must see)

In 1625, Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg wanted to build a house that would mean everything to him. In the chaotic age that he lived in he felt the desire to have a home that would be the whole universe. He built Eggenberg Castle. On the edge of Graz is a beautiful park. The Eggenberg Castle sits there, reflecting the cosmos.

The castle has 365 windows, 31 rooms on each floor, 24 state rooms having 52 doors and four corner towers. The building reflects all aspects of time: the seasons, weeks, days, hours, minutes all based on the Gregorian calendar.

The paintings of the Planet Hall (1678) have astronomical symbols. On the ceiling, painter Hans Adam Weisenkircher assigned celestial bodies to days, gods, metals and Eggenbergers themselves. There is a triumphant general and an imperial envoy. The twelve signs of the Zodiac adorn the walls.

Hans Ulrich brought elements of the ancient Eggenberger Castle into his new palace. All diagonals drawn through the building intersect at the old Gothic chapel. In the 18th century the Castle theatre was converted into a baroque church.

Peacocks in full display stalk about the grounds. There is a Planet Garden in the park which continues the cosmos motif.

The Eggenberg Castle is run by the Joanneum, the Provincial Museum of Styria. Important collections include the Lapidarium with the largest collection of Roman stones in Austria. There are also the departments of early history, the coin collection and the art gallery with art from the Romanesque and late Baroque periods.

In 1717 Johann Christian II von Eggenberg died of appendicitis. He was 13. His father and grandfather had died before him. With Johann's death The Eggenberger dynasty came to an end. Only the castle remains to carry on the Eggenberg name.