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Sights in
Stattegg, St.Veit, Graz-Andritz and surroundings
Castle Eggenberg
On the western outskirts of Graz the former princely castle Eggenberg is situated on the foot of the Mühlberg hill in the middle of an extensive park. It is a massive building with a square ground plan, four corner towers, a main tower, a big yard with arcades on three sides and two tinier side yards. The whole castle is said to have as many windows as the year days (365). In all directions it is surrounded by a moat. On the front gable you can see the coat of arms of the Eggenberg dynasty which presents a prince's crown that is held by three ravens and over the main entrance there is a plaque that says that in 1673 emperor Leopold I. had married here archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Tirol. (Ave Claudia Imperatrix = Long live Claudia the empress)
In front of the entrance there is the big tournament site.
The castle was erected by Prince Johann Ulrich von Eggenberg in the years 1625 until around 1633.
After the Eggenberg dynasty came to an end in 1717, when they died out, the castle was given 
by marriage to Herberstein family and since 1939 its new owner is the province Land Steiermark. On the second floor, also called Nobelgeschoss (noble floor), there are 17 big oil paintings on the walls and on the ceiling, created by the Eggenberg court painter Hans Adam Weissenkircher in 1684/85. Remarkable is also the bedroom of the empress archduchess Maria Theresia (+1780) and her husband, Franz Stephan of Lotharingia (+1765).
Bibliography:
Herwig Ebner, Burgen und Schlösser in der Steiermark: Graz, Leibnitz, Weststeiermark,Wien 2/1981.
Johannes Koren, Burgen und Schlösser der Steiermark, Innsbruck 1992.
Robert Baravalle, Burgen und Schlösser der Steiermark, Graz 1961.