Graz

Graz (Slovenian,Croatian: Grad(ec), pronounced "grahts" in German), with a population of 226,244 (2001) is the second-largest city in Austria, capital of the province of Styria (Steiermark in German). It has a long tradition of being a student city, with 4 Universities and 2 Universities of Applied Sciences enrolling a total of 40,000 students. During the brief Lutheran phase of Graz, in 1540 Eggenberg founded the Paradies or Lutheran school, in which Johannes Kepler later taught.

The city is situated on the Mur river, in the southeast of Austria. Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria had 20,000 Protestant books burned in the square of what is now an insane asylum, and succeeded in returning Styria to the authority of Rome. Nikola Tesla studied electrical engineering at the Politechnic in Graz in 1875. Nobel Laureate Otto Loewi taught at the university from 1909 until 1938. Erwin Schrödinger was briefly chancellor of the University of Graz in 1936. Soon thereafter, there was a small concentration camp nearby, a sub-camp of Mauthausen, and Schrödinger had fled.

The name Graz is derived from the Slovenian and Croatian word gradec, meaning small castle. Graz was built around the Schlossberg. The first mention of it under its present name is in a document of A.D. 881, after which its stronghold became the residence of the rulers of the surrounding district, known later as Styria. The privileges of its ancient charter were confirmed by the Habsburg Rudolph I in 1281. With a strategic situation at the head of the open and fertile valley of the Mur, Graz was often assaulted (unsuccessfully): by Hungarians under Matthias Corvinus in 1481, and by the Ottoman Turks in 1529 and 1532.

From the earlier part of the 15th century Graz was the residence of the younger branch of the Habsburgs, which succeeded to the imperial throne in 1619 in the person of Emperor Ferdinand II. New fortifications were constructed in the end of the 16th century, but according to the peace terms of 1815 the fortifications were blown down, with the exception of the belltower and the civic clock tower, which remain.

In the last few years the city of Graz got some new biuldings. The most famous ones are the "Kunsthaus" (house of art), a museum which is constructed right next to the river Mur, and the "Murinsel" (islands in the Mur) which is an island made out of steel in the river. It was designed by the American architect Vito Acconci and contains a cafeteria, an open-air theatre and a playground.

Famous actor and current Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger was born four miles from Graz in the small village of Thal.

Since 1999 the old town centre of Graz is listed as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. During the year 2003 Graz had the title of "Cultural capital of Europe".