Palais Wildenstein

The Palais Wildenstein is a former Graz city palace. It is located in the first district of Innere Stadt, on Paulustorgasse. The premises now house the Styrian State Police Directorate’s security and traffic police section.

Architecture and design

The imposing three-story edifice with an L-shaped floor plan is one of the city’s most notable baroque palaces. Risalites and ellipsoidal half-columns separate the façade. It has a sculptural façade with segmental gables and stucco embellishments as a result of this. The Counts of Wildenstein’s heraldic insignia includes griffin claws, among other features.

The round-arched stone gate dates from the period of building and features a mascaron keystone, a stone with a grimace expression. A filigree skylight grille in foliage shapes from 1702 is located above the sheet metal studded gate wing. Wrought-iron grilles cover the windows on the ground floor, while the window canopies on the first story are ornately ornamented. The original interior has been lost due to the palace’s later usage as a hospital. Only the baroque stucco in the main wing’s short staircase and the spacious vestibule on the first floor has been maintained.

History

At the beginning of the 17th century, the wide garden area known as “in der Scheiben” on which the palace now stands belonged to numerous owners. Among them were the Graz parish, the Teutonic Knights, Ruprecht von Eggenberg, and the Rueß family. In 1648, Baron Johann Franz von Wildenstein was appointed guardian of the heirs of Franz Andreas von Eggenberg. The heavily indebted property was eventually bought by Count Johann Josef von Wildenstein, court chamberlain, inner-Austrian government commissioner, and governor of Gorizia. His marriage to Maria Juliana, the widow of Count Michael Weikhart Vetter von der Lilie, brought him fortune and the Palais Stubenberg in Neugasse (now Hans-Sachs-Gasse).

Two old buildings were united, enlarged, and given a new and identical façade in 1702. Andreas Stengg, an architect, was most likely in charge of the building project. The palace was sold to the Upper Styrian Abbey of St. Lambrecht in 1732, and following its dissolution during the Josephine reforms, it was converted into a general hospital. The interiors were altered by structural changes, while the outside façade was left intact. Extensive wings were created due to a severe scarcity of space. After completing the provincial hospital in St. Leonhard, the Republic of Austria purchased the Palais Wildenstein from the province of Styria and converted it into a police headquarters. It was extensively renovated in 1966. The facilities now house the Styrian State Police Directorate’s security and traffic police department, as well as the Graz Police Detention Centre.