Guided tour Castle Eggenberg

Eggenberg Castle with its impressive architecture, magnificient premises and a romantic park offers you a journey back in history and gives you a very good insight of the baroque and rokoko era. We will have a professional guided tour for a low price.

After the tour is is possible to visit the new gallery (entry fee is ? Euro per person).

Meeting point: front entrance 14:30 (see here). You can get there by tramway number 1, direction Eggenberg/UKH and a short walk

Signup: none. Just come to the meeting point

Price: 2,5 Euro for guided tour plus 1 Euro entry fee for park (If you have the ÖBB Vorteilscard the park entry is free)

Organiser: ESN Uni Graz (KF)

Short description Eggenberg castle is one of the most important castles of Styria dating back to early baroque time. The building is surrounded by a big landscape garden, among it the newly-arranged planet garden. Eggenberg castle was established after the example of the Spanish Escorial being at the same time an impressive building of representation and a complex allegory of the universe. The center of the Bel Étage is the Planet Hall and the adjacent 24 state rooms with its famous ceiling paintings. The Eggenberg Bel Étage has remained unchanged since the 18th century and allows an exceptional journey back in time.

Long description Schloss Eggenberg owes its name to its builder Hans Ulrich of Eggenberg, a contemporary of the 16th and 17th century. He established the impressive building from 1625 onwards. By then, he himself had become one of the central figures of the Imperial court. As the closest confidant of Emperor Ferdinand II and companion of the famous military commander Wallenstein, it was him who controlled the political fortunes of the empire early on in the Thirty Years War. The architecture of the castle is an expression of the Duke's powerful position, while at the same time representing in a most symbolic way his humanistic conception of the world, every detail following an ingenious programme. Created as a copy of the universe, everything is characterised by natural historic concepts of cosmic harmony.

The construction of the castle is inspired by number plays affected by the then new Gregorian calendar. So the castle has 365 windows, 31 rooms per floor, 24 state rooms with 52 doors and altogether 60 windows, 4 towers - all allusions on the time, on seasons, weeks, days, hours, minutes.

On the Bel Étage the splendid Planet Hall (Planetensaal) is the core of the architectural design programme of the castle. Adjacent to the Planet Hall there is a circle of 24 state rooms fitted out with precious original designs, magnificient wall tapestires and decorations, stoves and pieces of furniture as well as three East Asian rooms with valuable china and Chinese silk paintings. Altogether there is a cycle of more than 600 ceiling paintings showing the Eggenberg's undertanding of the progress of time, worldly hierarchy, world history, religious concepts and value systems. The eggenberg Bel Étage has remained unchanged since the 18th century and, when illuminated by candle light, allows for an exceptional journey back in time. As the most important castle of Styria Eggenberg castle serves ven today numerous cultural meetings.