History Of Graz
The first human settlers on the site of the present city were there during the Copper Age. Still, there is no historical continuity of a pre-Middle Ages settlement.
The Dukes of Babenberg turned the town into a major commercial hub during the course of the twelfth century. Once the Habsburgs had taken Graz, King Rudolph I bestowed upon it particular rights in 1281.
Graz served as the Habsburgs’ Inner Austrian line’s home in the 14th century. Living in Schlossberg castle, the royal family reigned over parts of Italy (Carniola, Gorizia, Gradisca, Trieste), Styria, Carinthia, and much of contemporary Slovenia.
The design and plan of the city were controlled by Italian Renaissance craftsmen and architects in the sixteenth century. Built by Domenico dell’Allio and serving as the local government offices, the Landhaus is one of the most famous buildings of this kind.
The first educational establishment in Graz was founded in 1585 by Archduke Karl II. It was mostly governed by the Catholic Church for the most of its life. Joseph II shuttered it in 1782 as part of his attempt to impose government control over educational institutions. It became a lyceum under Joseph II, teaching medical staff and government workers. Renamed “Karl-Franzens Universität” or “Charles-Francis University” in English, Emperor Franz I reconstituted it as a university in 1827. Currently enrolled at this school are about 30,000 students.
Astronomer Johannes Kepler spent a short while living in Graz in 1594. He was working as the district mathematician and teaching at the Lutheran school while he studied astronomy. He moved to Prague when it became illegal for Protestants to enter Graz.
From 1869 until 1890, Ludwig Boltzmann was the Professor of Mathematical Physics. During 1875, Nikola Tesla studied electrical engineering at the Polytechnic.
Nobel Prize winner Otto Loewi taught at the University of Graz from 1909 until 1938.University of Graz educated Ivo Andri, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961.In 1936 Erwin Schrödinger was the University of Graz’s chancellor for a short while.
Germanically known as Steiermark, Graz is located in the Bundesland (state) of Styria.An extensive area of land used as a defensive border is referred to as a mark in Old German. The peasants received instructions on how to organize and defend themselves against an attack. Graz has long been a target of invaders because of its advantageous position at the head of the vast and productive Mur valley; these include the Ottoman Turks in 1529 and 1532 and the Hungarians under Matthias Corvinus in 1481. With the exception of the Riegersburg Castle, the Schlossberg was the only stronghold in the area that the Ottoman Turks were unable to conquer. The largest historical collection of late medieval and Renaissance armaments in the region is kept at the provincial armory in Graz. With an estimated 30,000 antiques, it has been on show since 1551.
The younger Habsburg line, who came to the throne in 1619, was based in Graz. Capital moved to Vienna by Emperor Ferdinand II. At the end of the 16th century, more fortifications were built atop Schlossberg.In 1797 Napoleon’s army took Graz. An other French army assault on the capital was repelled in 1809. The commanding officer of the fortification had to defend it during the attack with about 900 men against Napoleon’s force of about 3,000. He successfully held Schlossberg against eight assaults; but, when the Grande Armée overran Vienna and the Emperor decreed surrender, they were forced to submit. The defenses were destroyed with explosives in 1809 after Austria was routed by Napoleonic forces at the Battle of Wagram, in compliance with the Peace of Schönbrunn of that same year. Renowned tourist attractions and emblems of Graz, the belltower (Glockenturm) and the civic clock tower (Uhrturm) were saved after Graz citizens paid a ransom.
After Inner Austrian Archduke Karl II burnt 20,000 Protestant books in the plaza of what is today a psychiatric hospital, Styria was returned to the control of the Holy See.Birthplace of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is the Stadtmuseum in Graz.
On April 2, 1945, amid the height of Allied bombing of Graz, the Gestapo and Waffen-SS slaughtered resistance fighters, Hungarian-Jewish forced laborers, and POWs in the Graz-Wetzelsdorf SS barracks.
