Schloss Eggenberg

Schloss Eggenberg on Graz’s western edge is Austria’s largest palace complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built from 1625 for Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, the Habsburg Empire’s governor of Inner Austria. The palace’s layout encodes a calendar: 365 windows, 24 state rooms, four towers for the seasons. The state rooms have Baroque painted ceilings rivaling those of Schoenbrunn. The grounds include a landscape park free to enter year-round. Inside, the palace’s archaeological museum holds the Strettweg Ritual Chariot, a 2,600-year-old Bronze Age bronze wagon that is one of the finest prehistoric objects in the Alpine region. Open Tuesday to Sunday, April to October; tram from central Graz takes 20 minutes.