Graz: Architectural Guide

Graz is widely deemed Austria’s capital of architecture.

The Alpine country’s second largest city boasts both an Old Town that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the experimental Graz School buildings of the late 20th century. As the UNESCO City of Design since 2011, Graz fascinates with outstanding examples of historical and contemporary architecture that range from the Renaissance Eggenberg Palace to the Kunsthaus, otherwise known as the “Friendly Alien.”

The updated second edition of the Architekturführer Graz—now also available in English translation—has been expanded to include 60 additional buildings. The book covers all relevant architecture from the 12th to 21st centuries. Twelve tours lead the reader to over 300 buildings, streets, and squares. The accompanying texts provide an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the building activities and embed this knowledge in the appropriate artistic and cultural-historical context.

Anselm Wagner, *1965 in Salzburg, studied art history, philosophy, and classical archaeology in Salzburg and Munich, gallery director, art critic, and curator, editor of frame and spike, guest professorships in Vienna, Graz, and Minneapolis, since 2010 professor of architectural theory and head of the Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History and Cultural Studies at Graz University of Technology, 2011 – 20 member of Graz’s Old Town Commission of Experts.

Sophia Walk, *1984 in Fulda, studied architecture in Wiesbaden, associate in the department of Urbanism at the College Wiesbaden and as editor of Stylepark, 2015 – 21 assistant professor in the Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History and Cultural Studies at Graz University of Technology, 2021 – 22 member of Graz’s Old Town Commission of Experts, teaching positions at KIT Karlsruhe and at Academy of Visual Arts Vienna, since 2023 academic associate in the Institute of History and Theory of Architecture at Leibniz University of Hannover.