Landesmuseum Joanneum
Encyclopedia
The Universalmuseum Joanneum is a multidisciplinary museum
in Styria, Austria
. It has galleries and collections in many subject areas including Archaeology
, Geology
, Palaeontology, Mineralogy
, Botany
, Zoology
, History
, Art
and Folk Culture
. It is the oldest museum in Austria as well as the largest universal museum in central Europe
with over 4.5 million objects in 13 departments and 12 locations in the Styrian cities of Graz
, Stainz
, Trautenfels, and Wagna
(Flavia Solva
). To reflect this status and its growth over the last 2 centuries as well as to present a more recognizable image internationally, the Landesmuseum Joanneum was officially renamed to Universalmuseum Joanneum on 10 September 2009.
and the natural science
s. Around this core of collections, some of the best scientists of the era taught and conducted research; Friedrich Mohs
developed the Mohs scale of mineral hardness
here and also, a pioneer in paleobotany
, plant physiology
, phytotomy and soil science, Franz Unger
, taught here. In 1864 the Joanneum entered the ranks of the “k.k. technical colleges”. Following the decision to raise the institution into the ranks of imperial colleges as well as for organizational reasons and the need for more space, the institution was split in 1887. The college went on to become what is today the Graz University of Technology
and the various collections of the Joanneum, both scientific and cultural-historical, were combined into the Landesmuseum Joanneum.
During the subsequent years, the new installation of the Joanneum show collections occurred in the “Lesliehof” along the Raubergasse in Graz just off the main square. However, the spatial requirements of the collections soon outgrew the confines of even this palatial residence. A new museum building was erected between 1890 and 1895 along the Neutorgasse in Graz directly behind the “Lesliehof”. This new building, designed in the neobaroque style by August Gunold, became the “New Joanneum”. Beginning in 2009, both buildings as well as the open ground between them began undergoing extensive renovation and construction. A new, central, underground entrance and three-storey, underground depot adjoining both buildings and the Styrian Provincial Library, which was also part of the original 1811 Joanneum, is being constructed creating an impressive new quarter for the Graz city center, the Joanneum Quarter, “Joanneumsviertel”. On the occasion of the Joanneum’s bicentennial in 2011 in the completely renovated Neutorgasse building, the Neue Galerie art museum and the Multimedia Collection will be opened to the public in their new home and by 2013 the newly redesigned Museum of Nature and Science in its original albeit renovated location in the “Lesliehof” will be re-opened marking the completion of the newly designed city quarter.
Until 2003, the Joanneum was governed by the Styrian regional government. In 2003, coinciding with the designation of Graz as the sole European Capital of Culture
for that year, the Joanneum was spun off into a GmbH
(Limited Liability Company
). While the Joanneum gained some autonomy in business, marketing and budgetary decision-making with this move, the Province of Styria remains the successor of Archduke Johann and retains all ownership and property rights to the buildings and collections.
Today, the Universalmuseum Joanneum is the largest museum of its kind in central Europe and second only to the Kunsthistorisches Museum
in Vienna
in size for Austria
n museums in general. The Joanneum employs an international team of some 500 people across various fields from visitor services to acquisitions, conservation and preservation to scientific research. The more than 4.5 million objects counted among the various collections as well as a number of historical buildings and locations form the basis of a multifaceted exhibition program. Steeped in tradition, the Joanneum collects, preserves, conserves, researches and conveys a broad spectrum of information dealing with the nature, history, culture and art of Styria in an international context with an eye towards the future.
Mariahilferstraße 2-4
8020 Graz, Austria, EU
P +43-316/8017-0
F +43-316/8017-9800
E welcome@museum-joanneum.at
is a unique museum in the entire world. Never intended as a museum, it was in fact the central weapons depot of the Duchy of Styria
during the Ottoman Wars. It is the only remaining armory
of its type in the world. The installation has remained largely unchanged for nearly 400 years and provides the atmosphere of an authentic armory of the 17th century. 32,000 exhibits are housed in the collection; suits of armor for man and beast, coats of mail, helmets, melee weapons, firearms and other engines of war. The military history of Styria is illustrated with its own exhibition in the cannon hall.
cloister
just inside Graz's only remaining Renaissance
city-gate, the "Paulustor" (St. Paul's Gate) – erected under Ferdinand II
– the Volkskundemuseum houses the oldest and most extensive collection of folkloristic
and folk culture
objects in Styria. The library of folklore
contains over 14,000 individual volumes as well as an archive of original material and over 20,000 slides and historic photographs documenting the life of the rural Styrian. The newly designed show collection offers insights into the rural culture and life-style of pre-industrial Styria. The show collection emphasizes the "life", "fashion" and "beliefs" of the Styrian people and shows the social and cultural relations between the person and the objects s/he left behind. Specific features of the collection are the original smoking room and the tracht
hall. The complex also includes the Antoniuskirche (Church of St. Anthony) with original paintings by Giovanni Pietro de Pomis
and Hans Adam Weissenkircher
where the traditional "Styrian Shepherds' and Nativity Songs" are presented annually along with new compositions by local composers.
collection of the Joanneum encompasses around 35,000 objects from all areas of the aesthetically formed way of life – from the Middle Ages
up to the present-day: They bear witness to Styrian history and offer examples of aristocratic and middle-class domestic life, artisans' crafts in metal, wood, ivory, ceramics, glass and textiles as well as collections of wrought iron objects, tracht
and musical instruments. The Styrian ducal hat, the magnificent coach
of Emperor Frederick III
as well as a stone coat of arms from the Graz
Castle count among the most significant objects in the collection. To coincide with the Joanneum's Bicentennial in 2011, the cultural history collection will open the Museum im Palais in the former Herberstein city palace along the Grazer Sackstrasse and will present a newly designed permanent exhibition which will be complemented by thematically varying special exhibitions.
The Museum im Palais is housed in the former Palais Herberstein and, in addition to the show collection and temporary exhibitions, also has the Baroque
staterooms open to visitors. The Palais Herberstein was originally renovated into a Baroque city palace for the Princes of Eggenberg
by Austrian architect Joseph Hueber
. The palace passed into the possession of a branch of the Herberstein family in 1774 after the extinction of the male line of Eggenberg heirs.
The Neue Galerie Graz originated in 1941 with the division of the Provincial Art Gallery founded in 1811 as part of the Joanneum into the Alte Galerie – comprising Medieval to Baroque
artworks up to 1800 – and the Neue Galerie Graz – comprising artworks beginning with Neoclassicism
, Romanticism
, Realism
and Modern art
. The museum has an extensive collection of pedagogic art from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as an ever growing collection of contemporary art
. The Neue Galerie Graz also houses an extensive collection of some 40,000 graphics as well as photographs, film and video collections. Like the Künstlerhaus Graz and the KHG
, the Neue Galerie Graz has stepped into the ring as a venue for contemporary artists, both local and international, with a variety of temporary exhibitions. Among these contemporary artists, internationally renowned Styrian artist Günter Brus has a special place in the Neue Galerie Graz acquisitions and will have his own permanent exhibition in the newly renovated "Neutorgasse" building in the Joanneumsviertel.
The Multimedia
Collections (formerly known as the Picture and Tone Archives) were established in 1960 to collect photographic, film and audio material relating to Styria not only for the purposes of collecting and cataloging but also for research and educational purposes and to make these materials available to the general public. The collection presently consists of more than 2.5 million photograph
s, tens of thousands of audio recordings and thousands of film
s which document the development of the Bundesland
of Styria from the dawn of the era of photography, film and audio recording to the present. The Multimedia Collections make a fitting complement to the Neue Galerie Graz and are preparing to re-open with the Neue Galerie Graz in the newly renovated "Neutorgasse" building in the "Joanneumsviertel" in autumn of 2011.
In 2009, as preparations for the construction of the Joanneum Quarter began, the scientific departments of the Joanneum moved to the Center for Natural History in the Andritz
district of Graz
. This center allows for the care of the collections as well as continued scientific research with contemporary means. Steeped in tradition, these departments form the core of the original Joanneum established by Archduke Johann and will re-open in their newly renovated, original location (the "Lesliehof") in the heart of the Joanneum Quarter in 2013. The new Museum of Nature and Science in the Joanneum Quarter will offer interdisciplinary exhibitions of in the areas of botany
, zoology
, geology
& paleontology
, and mineralogy
.
Ferns, flowering plants, mushrooms and mosses – dried, pressed, stretched and packed in paper capsules: The core of the botanical collection consists of more than half a million different, well-preserved plants. Special collections of fruits and seeds as well as models of fruits and an extensive xylotheque (library of woods) complement the herbarium
which shows not only a comprehensive archive of Styrian flora
, but also provides the base for research projects on local vegetation. Franz Unger
did some of his early teaching and research in this department while he resided in Graz.
The collection encompasses about 850,000 specimens typical of their respective habitats. Vertebrates take up the largest portion of the show collection. Examples from other regions – from the seashores to the original fauna
of Australia – round-out the collection inventory. The primary focuses of the scientific collections are, among other things, insect
s and mollusks among the invertebrate
animals as well as skeletons and bird's eggs among the vertebrate
s.
500 million years Styrian history are gathered here: Fossilized remains of earlier living beings reveal information about ice age
s, tropical seas
, ancient forests and marshes. Beside the mammoths and mastodons, the cave bears and the giant deer, coral
s, mussel
s and fish
are found among the core specimens of the collection. Since 1998 the department of Geology & Paleontology has organized fossil digs with schools.
As with the coin cabinet collection, the mineralogical collection traces its origin to the private collection Archduke Johann, which encompassed several thousand pieces at that time. Today the inventory has grown to about 80,000 specimens. The collection presents minerals from the whole world as well as a Styrian regional collection. The mineralogy department of the Joanneum was also where Friedrich Mohs
developed the Mohs scale of mineral hardness
which is authoritative even today. He was the first curator of the Joanneum.
Schloss Eggenberg was added to the registry of the Graz Old Town as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
in 2010. Schloss Eggenberg
is the most significant palace
ensemble in Styria and is surrounded by an extensive scenic garden. The palace, designed by court architect Giovanni Pietro de Pomis
according to the inspiration of the Spanish El Escorial
is both an opulent residence intended to convey the wealth, might and status of the, at that time, owner-builder Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg
as well as a complex allegory
of the cosmos
. Central to the multifaceted conception of its construction are an ensemble of historic interior rooms. The cycle of 24 staterooms with original accouterments and period furnishings from the 17th and 18th centuries counts among the most significant ensembles of historic interiors in all of Austria. The climax of this piano nobile
is the Planetary Room which owes its name to the cycle of ceiling and wall paintings (completed in 1685) that adorn it by court painter Hans Adam Weissenkircher
. His elegant melding of astrological
and hermetic
images, numerology
and family mythology into a complicated allegory of the "Golden Age" of the House of Eggenberg
is counted among the most important and impressive systems of early Baroque
room-art in the whole of Central Europe.
9 hectare
s of gardens, mostly overgrown and lost through decades of neglect by the end of World War II
, have been largely restored or reconstructed as a living monument to Romanticism
and still bear today the marked influence of the last fanatical gardener to own the palace, Jérôme Count Herberstein. In the early 19th century, Count Herberstein had the palace grounds transformed into the picturesque English garden
that visitors can still enjoy today.
The collections of the Alte Galerie Graz contain works by old master
s of European art from the Middle Ages
up to the end of the 18th century. The 22-room show collection in Schloss Eggenberg
follows an innovative design; organized thematically by subject matter rather than chronologically according to art history
. Objects of Romanesque art
such as the "St. Nicholas Sacristy Door", Gothic art
like the world-renowned "Admont Madonna" and the "Death Portrait of Maximilian I
" or a portrait of his first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy and the Greater and Lesser Miracle Altars of Mariazell
are among the show collection of medieval art
. Beginning with the Renaissance and going through Mannerism
to the late Baroque
, works by the likes of Lucas Cranach the Elder
, Sofonisba Anguissola
, Bartholomeus Spranger
, Pieter Brueghel the Younger
, Martin Johann Schmidt
, and Angelika Kaufmann, to name a few, are on display in the early modern period
portion of show collection. Additionally, temporary exhibitions of varying themes are offered on a seasonal basis to complement the multifaceted show collection. The inventory of the Copperplate Engravings & Etchings Cabinet of the Alte Galerie Graz is also quite extensive and contains hand drawings and print
graphics from 1500 till the end of the 18th century. Among these are extensive collections of works by Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer
and Giambattista Piranesi.
As with the mineralogical collection, the Coin Cabinet
traces its history back to the private collection of Archduke Johann. With over 70,000 objects, it is currently the second largest, public coin collection in Austria. Through a combination of state-of-the-art technology and historical items, the coins, currency and equipment related to minting are presented to the visitor and trace the history of regional coin circulation and minting from the prehistoric
era to the eurozone
. Among the most significant pieces of the collection are coins from finds in and around Styria that were in circulation in this region at the time of the Roman Empire
. Additionally, Friesacher and Grazer Pfennig
s from the Middle Ages
and coins and medallions from the Inner Austria
n mints in Graz
, Klagenfurt
and St. Veit an der Glan as well as from other lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are on display. The collection also traces the history of coin mintage and names from around the world with prehistoric Celtic coins from the region, shells, early forms of paper currency and the euro
in addition to coins of international, historical significance minted in Africa, the USA, and by the Dutch East India Company
among others. The permanent collection, with an additional room for temporary exhibitions, is fittingly situated in the oldest portion of palace dating to the late Middle Ages
and once belonging to Balthasar Eggenberger
, mint master and financier to Emperor Frederick III
in the early days of Mercantilism
.
Located adjacent to the Planetary Garden and Lapidarium
at Schloss Eggenberg the newly constructed subterranean showroom of the archeology museum presents timeless subjects of human existence with an array of over 1200 objects from past social environments. The second largest archaeological collection of Austria unites evidence of human existence from "Styrian" prehistory
with findings from Classical Antiquity
, the Ancient Near East
and Ancient Egypt
. A worldwide, unique attraction is the Cult Wagon of Strettweg
, found among grave goods
from the Hallstatt culture
which underwent an extensive and expert restoration and is now on permanent display. One of the most significant Roman
stonemasonry
collections of the eastern Alps
is to be visited in the adjacent Lapidarium
: 96 stones – gravestones, monuments, medallions and round sculptures–, three large remnants of mosaic
floors as well as as a prominent exhibit, the nearly three meter high grave stele
of L. Cantius are to be found here.
Akin to the archaeology museum is the Roman Museum of Flavia Solva
near the southern Styrian town of Wagna
. (see below)
Headquartered in one of the Eggenberg garden houses and working with an international network of museums and local institutions including the University of Graz
and the Graz University of Technology
, the Museumsakademie Joanneum encourages further education, training and research in museology
, museum planning
, interpretive planning
, exhibit design
and museum management. It also provides a platform and resources for discussions with international researchers in museology and museological theory in order to promote the continuing development of both the Joanneum and of museological practices and research around the world.
Opening in 1952, the Künstlerhaus Graz, literally "Artists' House", has served for six decades as a venue for promoting contemporary artists from Styria. Located between the Grazer Old Town and the University Quarter just outside Graz's only remaining Gothic
city-gate, the "Burgtor" (Castle Gate) – erected under Frederick III, H.R.R.
– the Künstlerhaus Graz provides a space for contemporary artists from in and around Styria to engage the public with their work. As part of the preparations for the city of Graz's tenure as the 2003 European Capital of Culture
it was integrated into the Universalmuseum Joanneum and continues to serve in this function.
Architecture, design, new media, CGI, film and photography – contemporary art in various manifestations presented under one roof. Opened in October, 2003 the Kunsthaus Graz
– dubbed the "Friendly Alien" by its designers Peter Cook and Colin Fournier – has been offering visitors an ever changing experience with its spectacular architecture and exhibitions by international, contemporary artists from the late 20th century to the present day. A special highlight of this blob architecture building is the "Needle": a glass viewing platform that looks out across the Mur River towards the Graz city center and the internationally recognized landmark, the Grazer Schlossberg
. The BIX façade on the eastern (Mur) face of the KHG
serves as an "urban screen" with 925 programmable fluorescent lamps which display messages and moving patterns of light on the surroundings.
Dieter Kienast. In spring, 2008 the collection was extended by the donation of the Painting to Hammer a Nail in / Cross Version by artist Yoko Ono
.
overlooking the Mur River, Flavia Solva
is the most significant Roman era
find in modern-day Styria. The town developed near an already existing settlement of Celts centered on the nearby hill, the Frauenberg near Leibnitz
. Officially gaining full status as a Roman city by grant of a municipal charter by Vespasian
in 70 AD, the settlement expanded and the local Celtic populations adopted Roman ways and technology. With a viewing platform and showroom built overlooking excavated Roman ruins, this museum offers visitors a glimpse into the everyday life, worship, and death cults of what was once the most cultured town of the Roman
province of Noricum
.
palace
of Schloss Trautenfels
is situated at the foot of the Grimming on a protruding cliff in the municipality Pürgg-Trautenfels
. In the Middle Ages
the cliff protrusion held a small damn on the Enns River up until the 16th century. In 1664 the area was bought by the Styrian provincial governor, Count Siegmund Friedrich von Trauttmansdorff and subsequently converted and expanded by him into an early Baroque
residence which now bears his name. The staterooms feature both Renaissance
and Baroque
frescoes and paintings as well as the Antler Room of the Counts of Lemberg, and the stunning Marble Hall all of which are open to visitors.
Beginning in the 1950s a concerted effort was made to collect objects relating to the natural and cultural history of the Ennstal region of Upper Styria and the Styrian Salzkammergut
. Both the splendor of the landscape and the palace itself are on display as the exhibition wanders through the various rooms of the palace. Objects of geological interest as well as the rural domestic life of the region are on display. The exhibition also displays exhibits recollecting the historic transitions and their impact on the people of the region such as the Reformation
and Counter-Reformation
. The permanent show collection presents about 1000 exhibits relating to both the land and the people over the course of history in of the Ennstal Valley as well as the Ausseerland
from the Middle Ages to the early modern era.
is a former Augustinian Canons Regular
monastery purchased by Archduke Johann in 1840 and remains today in the estate of his heirs, the Counts of Meran. In addition to various rooms, terraces and arcades being available to rent for private functions, the former monastery also houses two of the Joanneum's collections:
The hunting museum is fittingly located in Schloss Stainz which was acquired by Archduke Johann in 1840 and used as a hunting residence. The design of the exhibition understands the hunt as a historical, sociological and philosophical-ethical phenomenon and offers the visitor a chance to examine the connections of hunting, ecology and nature. The interdisciplinary approach to this exhibition combines Baroque
animal trophies, historical tools and weapons, paintings and artwork with state-of-the-art technology and museum design to illustrate the development of the hunt from the Stone Age
through Roman
times up to the time of nobles and the early days of the middle-class.
The agriculture museum likewise compliments the forward thinking of Archduke Johann. The main focus of the collection is to show the rural farming, husbandry and forestry
techniques prior to industrialization
as well as the implements and photographic evidence relating to these practices. Original room furnishings from the 17thth and 18th centuries provide a view into the different dimensions of rural life in Styria. The open areas hold a smithy, a cabbage pit, herb garden, an orchard and a small field to demonstrate various aspects of this pre-industrial
, rural
lifestyle.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
in Styria, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. It has galleries and collections in many subject areas including Archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, Palaeontology, Mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
, Botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, Zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, Art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and Folk Culture
Folk culture
Folk culture refers to the lifestyle of a culture. Historically, handed down through oral tradition, it demonstrates the "old ways" over novelty and relates to a sense of community. Folk culture is quite often imbued with a sense of place...
. It is the oldest museum in Austria as well as the largest universal museum in central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
with over 4.5 million objects in 13 departments and 12 locations in the Styrian cities of Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Stainz
Stainz
Stainz is a municipality in the district of Deutschlandsberg in Styria, Austria.-References:...
, Trautenfels, and Wagna
Wagna
Wagna is a municipality in the district of Leibnitz in Styria, Austria. The ancient Roman town of Flavia Solva lies near what is today Wagna.-References:...
(Flavia Solva
Flavia Solva
Flavia Solva was a municipium in the ancient Roman province of Noricum. It was situated on the western banks of the Mur river, close to the modern cities of Wagna and Leibnitz in the southern parts of the Austrian province of Styria...
). To reflect this status and its growth over the last 2 centuries as well as to present a more recognizable image internationally, the Landesmuseum Joanneum was officially renamed to Universalmuseum Joanneum on 10 September 2009.
History
Established in 1811 by Archduke Johann, the Landesmuseum Joanneum was Austria’s first museum as well as a center for continuing education and scientific research. Notably, the Coin Cabinet and the mineralogical collection were extensive, private collections belonging to the archduke himself and form the spiritual heart of the museum's departments in disciplines from both the humanitiesHumanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
and the natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
s. Around this core of collections, some of the best scientists of the era taught and conducted research; Friedrich Mohs
Friedrich Mohs
Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs was a German geologist/mineralogist.- Career :Mohs, born in Gernrode, Germany, studied chemistry, mathematics and physics at the University of Halle and also studied at the Mining Academy in Freiberg, Saxony...
developed the Mohs scale of mineral hardness
Mohs scale of mineral hardness
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in...
here and also, a pioneer in paleobotany
Paleobotany
Paleobotany, also spelled as palaeobotany , is the branch of paleontology or paleobiology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments , and both the evolutionary history of plants, with a...
, plant physiology
Plant physiology
Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology , plant ecology , phytochemistry , cell biology, and molecular biology.Fundamental processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition,...
, phytotomy and soil science, Franz Unger
Franz Unger
Franz Joseph Andreas Nicolaus Unger was an Austrian botanist, paleontologist and plant physiologist.- Life and work :...
, taught here. In 1864 the Joanneum entered the ranks of the “k.k. technical colleges”. Following the decision to raise the institution into the ranks of imperial colleges as well as for organizational reasons and the need for more space, the institution was split in 1887. The college went on to become what is today the Graz University of Technology
Graz University of Technology
The Graz University of Technology is the second largest university in Styria, Austria, after the University of Graz. Austria has three universities of technology – in Graz, in Leoben, and in Vienna. The Graz University of Technology was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria. TUG, as the...
and the various collections of the Joanneum, both scientific and cultural-historical, were combined into the Landesmuseum Joanneum.
During the subsequent years, the new installation of the Joanneum show collections occurred in the “Lesliehof” along the Raubergasse in Graz just off the main square. However, the spatial requirements of the collections soon outgrew the confines of even this palatial residence. A new museum building was erected between 1890 and 1895 along the Neutorgasse in Graz directly behind the “Lesliehof”. This new building, designed in the neobaroque style by August Gunold, became the “New Joanneum”. Beginning in 2009, both buildings as well as the open ground between them began undergoing extensive renovation and construction. A new, central, underground entrance and three-storey, underground depot adjoining both buildings and the Styrian Provincial Library, which was also part of the original 1811 Joanneum, is being constructed creating an impressive new quarter for the Graz city center, the Joanneum Quarter, “Joanneumsviertel”. On the occasion of the Joanneum’s bicentennial in 2011 in the completely renovated Neutorgasse building, the Neue Galerie art museum and the Multimedia Collection will be opened to the public in their new home and by 2013 the newly redesigned Museum of Nature and Science in its original albeit renovated location in the “Lesliehof” will be re-opened marking the completion of the newly designed city quarter.
Until 2003, the Joanneum was governed by the Styrian regional government. In 2003, coinciding with the designation of Graz as the sole European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
for that year, the Joanneum was spun off into a GmbH
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung is a type of legal entityvery common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other Central European countries...
(Limited Liability Company
Limited liability company
A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...
). While the Joanneum gained some autonomy in business, marketing and budgetary decision-making with this move, the Province of Styria remains the successor of Archduke Johann and retains all ownership and property rights to the buildings and collections.
Today, the Universalmuseum Joanneum is the largest museum of its kind in central Europe and second only to the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in size for Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n museums in general. The Joanneum employs an international team of some 500 people across various fields from visitor services to acquisitions, conservation and preservation to scientific research. The more than 4.5 million objects counted among the various collections as well as a number of historical buildings and locations form the basis of a multifaceted exhibition program. Steeped in tradition, the Joanneum collects, preserves, conserves, researches and conveys a broad spectrum of information dealing with the nature, history, culture and art of Styria in an international context with an eye towards the future.
Corporate headquarters
Universalmuseum JoanneumMariahilferstraße 2-4
8020 Graz, Austria, EU
P +43-316/8017-0
F +43-316/8017-9800
E welcome@museum-joanneum.at
Styrian Armory
The LandeszeughausLandeszeughaus
The Landeszeughaus, in Graz, Austria, is the largest existing original armoury in the whole world and attracts visitors from all over the world. It holds approximately 32,000 pieces of weaponry, tools, suits of armour for battle and ones for parades....
is a unique museum in the entire world. Never intended as a museum, it was in fact the central weapons depot of the Duchy of Styria
Duchy of Styria
The history of Styria concerns the region roughly corresponding to the modern Austrian state of Styria and the Slovene region of Styria from its settlement by Germans and Slavs in the Dark Ages until the present...
during the Ottoman Wars. It is the only remaining armory
Armory
Armory or armoury may mean:*Armory , a military location used for the storage of arms and ammunition*Armory , the study of coats of arms*Armory , a Marvel Comics character...
of its type in the world. The installation has remained largely unchanged for nearly 400 years and provides the atmosphere of an authentic armory of the 17th century. 32,000 exhibits are housed in the collection; suits of armor for man and beast, coats of mail, helmets, melee weapons, firearms and other engines of war. The military history of Styria is illustrated with its own exhibition in the cannon hall.
Folkloristic Museum
Opened in 1913 and located in a former CapuchinOrder of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
just inside Graz's only remaining Renaissance
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
city-gate, the "Paulustor" (St. Paul's Gate) – erected under Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
– the Volkskundemuseum houses the oldest and most extensive collection of folkloristic
Folkloristics
Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore. The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics...
and folk culture
Folk culture
Folk culture refers to the lifestyle of a culture. Historically, handed down through oral tradition, it demonstrates the "old ways" over novelty and relates to a sense of community. Folk culture is quite often imbued with a sense of place...
objects in Styria. The library of folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
contains over 14,000 individual volumes as well as an archive of original material and over 20,000 slides and historic photographs documenting the life of the rural Styrian. The newly designed show collection offers insights into the rural culture and life-style of pre-industrial Styria. The show collection emphasizes the "life", "fashion" and "beliefs" of the Styrian people and shows the social and cultural relations between the person and the objects s/he left behind. Specific features of the collection are the original smoking room and the tracht
Tracht
Tracht is a traditional national costume in German-speaking countries. Although the word is most often associated with Austrian and Bavarian costumes, many other peoples of Germany have them.-History:...
hall. The complex also includes the Antoniuskirche (Church of St. Anthony) with original paintings by Giovanni Pietro de Pomis
Giovanni Pietro de Pomis
Giovanni Pietro de Pomis was an Italian painter, medailleur , architect and fortress master builder. His works show a marked influence of late-Mannerism.- Biography :De Pomis was apparently a pupil of the Venetian Jacopo Tintoretto...
and Hans Adam Weissenkircher
Hans Adam Weissenkircher
Hans Adam Weissenkircher was an Austrian baroque painter and court painter of the Prince Johann Seyfried von Eggenberg in Graz.- Biography :...
where the traditional "Styrian Shepherds' and Nativity Songs" are presented annually along with new compositions by local composers.
Museum im Palais
The cultural historyCultural history
The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...
collection of the Joanneum encompasses around 35,000 objects from all areas of the aesthetically formed way of life – from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
up to the present-day: They bear witness to Styrian history and offer examples of aristocratic and middle-class domestic life, artisans' crafts in metal, wood, ivory, ceramics, glass and textiles as well as collections of wrought iron objects, tracht
Tracht
Tracht is a traditional national costume in German-speaking countries. Although the word is most often associated with Austrian and Bavarian costumes, many other peoples of Germany have them.-History:...
and musical instruments. The Styrian ducal hat, the magnificent coach
Coach (carriage)
A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in...
of Emperor Frederick III
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the Peaceful KG was Duke of Austria as Frederick V from 1424, the successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV from 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III from 1452...
as well as a stone coat of arms from the Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
Castle count among the most significant objects in the collection. To coincide with the Joanneum's Bicentennial in 2011, the cultural history collection will open the Museum im Palais in the former Herberstein city palace along the Grazer Sackstrasse and will present a newly designed permanent exhibition which will be complemented by thematically varying special exhibitions.
The Museum im Palais is housed in the former Palais Herberstein and, in addition to the show collection and temporary exhibitions, also has the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
staterooms open to visitors. The Palais Herberstein was originally renovated into a Baroque city palace for the Princes of Eggenberg
House of Eggenberg
Eggenberg is the name of an Austrian noble family from Styria whose last male heir died in 1717 bringing an end to the House of Eggenberg.- History :The origin of the Austrian noble house of Eggenberg is shrouded in darkness...
by Austrian architect Joseph Hueber
Joseph Hueber
Joseph Hueber, , was a significant Austrian baroque master builder who studied under Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt.-Buildings & Projects:...
. The palace passed into the possession of a branch of the Herberstein family in 1774 after the extinction of the male line of Eggenberg heirs.
Neue Galerie
The Neue Galerie Graz originated in 1941 with the division of the Provincial Art Gallery founded in 1811 as part of the Joanneum into the Alte Galerie – comprising Medieval to Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
artworks up to 1800 – and the Neue Galerie Graz – comprising artworks beginning with Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, Realism
Realism
Realism, Realist or Realistic are terms that describe any manifestation of philosophical realism, the belief that reality exists independently of observers, whether in philosophy itself or in the applied arts and sciences. In this broad sense it is frequently contrasted with Idealism.Realism in the...
and Modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
. The museum has an extensive collection of pedagogic art from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as an ever growing collection of contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
. The Neue Galerie Graz also houses an extensive collection of some 40,000 graphics as well as photographs, film and video collections. Like the Künstlerhaus Graz and the KHG
Kunsthaus Graz
The Kunsthaus Graz, Grazer Kunsthaus, or Graz Art Museum was built as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2003 and has since become an architectural landmark in Graz, Austria...
, the Neue Galerie Graz has stepped into the ring as a venue for contemporary artists, both local and international, with a variety of temporary exhibitions. Among these contemporary artists, internationally renowned Styrian artist Günter Brus has a special place in the Neue Galerie Graz acquisitions and will have his own permanent exhibition in the newly renovated "Neutorgasse" building in the Joanneumsviertel.
Multimedia Collections
The Multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
Collections (formerly known as the Picture and Tone Archives) were established in 1960 to collect photographic, film and audio material relating to Styria not only for the purposes of collecting and cataloging but also for research and educational purposes and to make these materials available to the general public. The collection presently consists of more than 2.5 million photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s, tens of thousands of audio recordings and thousands of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s which document the development of the Bundesland
States of Austria
Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms...
of Styria from the dawn of the era of photography, film and audio recording to the present. The Multimedia Collections make a fitting complement to the Neue Galerie Graz and are preparing to re-open with the Neue Galerie Graz in the newly renovated "Neutorgasse" building in the "Joanneumsviertel" in autumn of 2011.
Museum of Nature & Science
In 2009, as preparations for the construction of the Joanneum Quarter began, the scientific departments of the Joanneum moved to the Center for Natural History in the Andritz
Andritz (Graz)
Andritz is the 12th District of Graz. It is located in the extreme north of the city.-History:The name Andritz was first mentioned in 1265....
district of Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
. This center allows for the care of the collections as well as continued scientific research with contemporary means. Steeped in tradition, these departments form the core of the original Joanneum established by Archduke Johann and will re-open in their newly renovated, original location (the "Lesliehof") in the heart of the Joanneum Quarter in 2013. The new Museum of Nature and Science in the Joanneum Quarter will offer interdisciplinary exhibitions of in the areas of botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
& paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, and mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
.
Botany
Ferns, flowering plants, mushrooms and mosses – dried, pressed, stretched and packed in paper capsules: The core of the botanical collection consists of more than half a million different, well-preserved plants. Special collections of fruits and seeds as well as models of fruits and an extensive xylotheque (library of woods) complement the herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
which shows not only a comprehensive archive of Styrian flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
, but also provides the base for research projects on local vegetation. Franz Unger
Franz Unger
Franz Joseph Andreas Nicolaus Unger was an Austrian botanist, paleontologist and plant physiologist.- Life and work :...
did some of his early teaching and research in this department while he resided in Graz.
Zoology
The collection encompasses about 850,000 specimens typical of their respective habitats. Vertebrates take up the largest portion of the show collection. Examples from other regions – from the seashores to the original fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
of Australia – round-out the collection inventory. The primary focuses of the scientific collections are, among other things, insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and mollusks among the invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
animals as well as skeletons and bird's eggs among the vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s.
Geology & paleontology
500 million years Styrian history are gathered here: Fossilized remains of earlier living beings reveal information about ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
s, tropical seas
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
, ancient forests and marshes. Beside the mammoths and mastodons, the cave bears and the giant deer, coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
s, mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s and fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
are found among the core specimens of the collection. Since 1998 the department of Geology & Paleontology has organized fossil digs with schools.
Mineralogy
As with the coin cabinet collection, the mineralogical collection traces its origin to the private collection Archduke Johann, which encompassed several thousand pieces at that time. Today the inventory has grown to about 80,000 specimens. The collection presents minerals from the whole world as well as a Styrian regional collection. The mineralogy department of the Joanneum was also where Friedrich Mohs
Friedrich Mohs
Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs was a German geologist/mineralogist.- Career :Mohs, born in Gernrode, Germany, studied chemistry, mathematics and physics at the University of Halle and also studied at the Mining Academy in Freiberg, Saxony...
developed the Mohs scale of mineral hardness
Mohs scale of mineral hardness
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in...
which is authoritative even today. He was the first curator of the Joanneum.
Staterooms & gardens
Schloss Eggenberg was added to the registry of the Graz Old Town as a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
in 2010. Schloss Eggenberg
Schloss Eggenberg (Graz)
Eggenberg Palace in Graz is the most significant Baroque palace complex in Styria. With its preserved accouterments, the extensive scenic gardens as well as some additional collections from the Universalmuseum Joanneum housed in the palace and park, Schloss Eggenberg counts among the most valuable...
is the most significant palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
ensemble in Styria and is surrounded by an extensive scenic garden. The palace, designed by court architect Giovanni Pietro de Pomis
Giovanni Pietro de Pomis
Giovanni Pietro de Pomis was an Italian painter, medailleur , architect and fortress master builder. His works show a marked influence of late-Mannerism.- Biography :De Pomis was apparently a pupil of the Venetian Jacopo Tintoretto...
according to the inspiration of the Spanish El Escorial
El Escorial
The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 kilometres northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and...
is both an opulent residence intended to convey the wealth, might and status of the, at that time, owner-builder Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg
Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg
Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg was an Austrian statesman, a son of Seyfried von Eggenberg and great-grandson of Balthasar Eggenberger of the House of Eggenberg.- Biography :...
as well as a complex allegory
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
of the cosmos
Cosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
. Central to the multifaceted conception of its construction are an ensemble of historic interior rooms. The cycle of 24 staterooms with original accouterments and period furnishings from the 17th and 18th centuries counts among the most significant ensembles of historic interiors in all of Austria. The climax of this piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
is the Planetary Room which owes its name to the cycle of ceiling and wall paintings (completed in 1685) that adorn it by court painter Hans Adam Weissenkircher
Hans Adam Weissenkircher
Hans Adam Weissenkircher was an Austrian baroque painter and court painter of the Prince Johann Seyfried von Eggenberg in Graz.- Biography :...
. His elegant melding of astrological
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
and hermetic
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
images, numerology
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
and family mythology into a complicated allegory of the "Golden Age" of the House of Eggenberg
House of Eggenberg
Eggenberg is the name of an Austrian noble family from Styria whose last male heir died in 1717 bringing an end to the House of Eggenberg.- History :The origin of the Austrian noble house of Eggenberg is shrouded in darkness...
is counted among the most important and impressive systems of early Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
room-art in the whole of Central Europe.
9 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s of gardens, mostly overgrown and lost through decades of neglect by the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, have been largely restored or reconstructed as a living monument to Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
and still bear today the marked influence of the last fanatical gardener to own the palace, Jérôme Count Herberstein. In the early 19th century, Count Herberstein had the palace grounds transformed into the picturesque English garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
that visitors can still enjoy today.
Alte Galerie
The collections of the Alte Galerie Graz contain works by old master
Old Master
"Old Master" is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. An "old master print" is an original print made by an artist in the same period...
s of European art from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
up to the end of the 18th century. The 22-room show collection in Schloss Eggenberg
Schloss Eggenberg (Graz)
Eggenberg Palace in Graz is the most significant Baroque palace complex in Styria. With its preserved accouterments, the extensive scenic gardens as well as some additional collections from the Universalmuseum Joanneum housed in the palace and park, Schloss Eggenberg counts among the most valuable...
follows an innovative design; organized thematically by subject matter rather than chronologically according to art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
. Objects of Romanesque art
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
such as the "St. Nicholas Sacristy Door", Gothic art
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
like the world-renowned "Admont Madonna" and the "Death Portrait of Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
" or a portrait of his first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy and the Greater and Lesser Miracle Altars of Mariazell
Mariazell
Mariazell is a small city in Austria, in Styria, well known for winter sports, 143 km N. of Graz. It is picturesquely situated in the valley of the Salza, amid the north Styrian Alps....
are among the show collection of medieval art
Medieval art
The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa...
. Beginning with the Renaissance and going through Mannerism
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
to the late Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
, works by the likes of Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder , was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving...
, Sofonisba Anguissola
Sofonisba Anguissola
Sofonisba Anguissola was an Italian painter of the Renaissance.-The Anguissola family:...
, Bartholomeus Spranger
Bartholomeus Spranger
Bartholomeus Spranger was a Flemish Northern Mannerist painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He was born in Antwerp in the Habsburg Netherlands .-Biography:...
, Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Pieter Brueghel the Younger /ˈpitəɾ ˈbɾøːxəl/ was a Flemish painter, known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Brueghel the Elder's paintings and nicknamed "Hell Brueghel" for his fantastic treatments of fire and grotesque imagery.-Life:Pieter Brueghel the Younger was the oldest son of the...
, Martin Johann Schmidt
Martin Johann Schmidt
Martin Johann Schmidt, called Kremser Schmidt or Kremserschmidt, , was one of the most outstanding Austrian painters of the late Baroque/Rococo along with Franz Anton Maulbertsch.A son of the sculptor Johannes Schmidt and a pupil of Gottlieb Starmayr, he spent...
, and Angelika Kaufmann, to name a few, are on display in the early modern period
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
portion of show collection. Additionally, temporary exhibitions of varying themes are offered on a seasonal basis to complement the multifaceted show collection. The inventory of the Copperplate Engravings & Etchings Cabinet of the Alte Galerie Graz is also quite extensive and contains hand drawings and print
Old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition . A date of about 1830 is usually taken as marking the end of the period whose prints are covered by this term. The main techniques concerned are woodcut, engraving and etching, although there are...
graphics from 1500 till the end of the 18th century. Among these are extensive collections of works by Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
and Giambattista Piranesi.
Coin cabinet
As with the mineralogical collection, the Coin Cabinet
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
traces its history back to the private collection of Archduke Johann. With over 70,000 objects, it is currently the second largest, public coin collection in Austria. Through a combination of state-of-the-art technology and historical items, the coins, currency and equipment related to minting are presented to the visitor and trace the history of regional coin circulation and minting from the prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
era to the eurozone
Eurozone
The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...
. Among the most significant pieces of the collection are coins from finds in and around Styria that were in circulation in this region at the time of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Additionally, Friesacher and Grazer Pfennig
Pfennig
The Pfennig , plural Pfennige, is an old German coin or note, which existed from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002....
s from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and coins and medallions from the Inner Austria
Inner Austria
Inner Austria was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the duchies of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and the Windic March, the County of Gorizia , the city of Trieste and assorted smaller possessions...
n mints in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
and St. Veit an der Glan as well as from other lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are on display. The collection also traces the history of coin mintage and names from around the world with prehistoric Celtic coins from the region, shells, early forms of paper currency and the euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
in addition to coins of international, historical significance minted in Africa, the USA, and by the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
among others. The permanent collection, with an additional room for temporary exhibitions, is fittingly situated in the oldest portion of palace dating to the late Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and once belonging to Balthasar Eggenberger
Balthasar Eggenberger
Balthasar Eggenberger , was an Austrian entrepreneur in the early days of mercantilism. He was master of the imperial mint at Graz in the Duchy of Styria and financier to Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor...
, mint master and financier to Emperor Frederick III
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the Peaceful KG was Duke of Austria as Frederick V from 1424, the successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV from 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III from 1452...
in the early days of Mercantilism
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is the economic doctrine in which government control of foreign trade is of paramount importance for ensuring the prosperity and security of the state. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade. Mercantilism dominated Western European economic policy and discourse from...
.
Archaeology Museum & Lapidarium
Located adjacent to the Planetary Garden and Lapidarium
Lapidarium
A lapidarium is a place where stone monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited - stone epigraphs, statues, architectural details like columns, cornices and acroterions, as well as tombstones and sarcophagi....
at Schloss Eggenberg the newly constructed subterranean showroom of the archeology museum presents timeless subjects of human existence with an array of over 1200 objects from past social environments. The second largest archaeological collection of Austria unites evidence of human existence from "Styrian" prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
with findings from Classical Antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
, the Ancient Near East
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
and Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
. A worldwide, unique attraction is the Cult Wagon of Strettweg
Cult Wagon of Strettweg
The Cult Wagon of Strettweg, or Strettweg Sacrificial Wagon, or Strettweg Chariot is a bronze cult wagon from ca. 600 B.C., which was found as part of a princely grave of the Hallstatt culture in Strettweg near Judenburg, Austria in 1851...
, found among grave goods
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
from the Hallstatt culture
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
which underwent an extensive and expert restoration and is now on permanent display. One of the most significant Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
stonemasonry
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
collections of the eastern Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
is to be visited in the adjacent Lapidarium
Lapidarium
A lapidarium is a place where stone monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited - stone epigraphs, statues, architectural details like columns, cornices and acroterions, as well as tombstones and sarcophagi....
: 96 stones – gravestones, monuments, medallions and round sculptures–, three large remnants of mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
floors as well as as a prominent exhibit, the nearly three meter high grave stele
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
of L. Cantius are to be found here.
Akin to the archaeology museum is the Roman Museum of Flavia Solva
Flavia Solva
Flavia Solva was a municipium in the ancient Roman province of Noricum. It was situated on the western banks of the Mur river, close to the modern cities of Wagna and Leibnitz in the southern parts of the Austrian province of Styria...
near the southern Styrian town of Wagna
Wagna
Wagna is a municipality in the district of Leibnitz in Styria, Austria. The ancient Roman town of Flavia Solva lies near what is today Wagna.-References:...
. (see below)
Museumsakademie Joanneum
Headquartered in one of the Eggenberg garden houses and working with an international network of museums and local institutions including the University of Graz
University of Graz
The University of Graz , a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria....
and the Graz University of Technology
Graz University of Technology
The Graz University of Technology is the second largest university in Styria, Austria, after the University of Graz. Austria has three universities of technology – in Graz, in Leoben, and in Vienna. The Graz University of Technology was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria. TUG, as the...
, the Museumsakademie Joanneum encourages further education, training and research in museology
Museology
Museology is the diachronic study of museums and how they have established and developed in their role as an educational mechanism under social and political pressures.-Overview:...
, museum planning
Museum planning
Museum Planning is the creation of documents to describe a new museum’s vision, the visitor experience and an organizational plan for a new institution, or one undergoing a major expansion or change in focus....
, interpretive planning
Interpretive planning
Interpretive planning is an initial step in the planning and design process for informal learning-based institutions like museums, zoos, science centers, nature centers, botanical gardens, heritage sites, parks and other cultural facilities where interpretation is used to communicate messages,...
, exhibit design
Exhibit design
Exhibit design is the process of developing an exhibit—from a concept through to a physical, three-dimensional exhibition...
and museum management. It also provides a platform and resources for discussions with international researchers in museology and museological theory in order to promote the continuing development of both the Joanneum and of museological practices and research around the world.
Künstlerhaus Graz
Opening in 1952, the Künstlerhaus Graz, literally "Artists' House", has served for six decades as a venue for promoting contemporary artists from Styria. Located between the Grazer Old Town and the University Quarter just outside Graz's only remaining Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
city-gate, the "Burgtor" (Castle Gate) – erected under Frederick III, H.R.R.
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the Peaceful KG was Duke of Austria as Frederick V from 1424, the successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV from 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III from 1452...
– the Künstlerhaus Graz provides a space for contemporary artists from in and around Styria to engage the public with their work. As part of the preparations for the city of Graz's tenure as the 2003 European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
it was integrated into the Universalmuseum Joanneum and continues to serve in this function.
Kunsthaus Graz
Architecture, design, new media, CGI, film and photography – contemporary art in various manifestations presented under one roof. Opened in October, 2003 the Kunsthaus Graz
Kunsthaus Graz
The Kunsthaus Graz, Grazer Kunsthaus, or Graz Art Museum was built as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2003 and has since become an architectural landmark in Graz, Austria...
– dubbed the "Friendly Alien" by its designers Peter Cook and Colin Fournier – has been offering visitors an ever changing experience with its spectacular architecture and exhibitions by international, contemporary artists from the late 20th century to the present day. A special highlight of this blob architecture building is the "Needle": a glass viewing platform that looks out across the Mur River towards the Graz city center and the internationally recognized landmark, the Grazer Schlossberg
Grazer Schloßberg
The word "Schloßberg" literally means "castle mountain", which describes it exactly. It is a hill topped by a castle, in the centre of the city of Graz, Austria....
. The BIX façade on the eastern (Mur) face of the KHG
Kunsthaus Graz
The Kunsthaus Graz, Grazer Kunsthaus, or Graz Art Museum was built as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2003 and has since become an architectural landmark in Graz, Austria...
serves as an "urban screen" with 925 programmable fluorescent lamps which display messages and moving patterns of light on the surroundings.
Austrian Sculpture Park
More than 60 sculptures are embedded in a seven hectare park with rose mounds, lotus blossom ponds and labyrinths, on the southern outskirts of Graz. Since its founding in 2003, the Austrian Sculpture Park offers visitors a scenic overview of – mainly Austrian, but also international – contemporary sculpture and sculptural art as well as the rolling gardens of Swiss landscape architectLandscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
Dieter Kienast. In spring, 2008 the collection was extended by the donation of the Painting to Hammer a Nail in / Cross Version by artist Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
.
Roman Museum
Located near a hill on the edge of the town of WagnaWagna
Wagna is a municipality in the district of Leibnitz in Styria, Austria. The ancient Roman town of Flavia Solva lies near what is today Wagna.-References:...
overlooking the Mur River, Flavia Solva
Flavia Solva
Flavia Solva was a municipium in the ancient Roman province of Noricum. It was situated on the western banks of the Mur river, close to the modern cities of Wagna and Leibnitz in the southern parts of the Austrian province of Styria...
is the most significant Roman era
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
find in modern-day Styria. The town developed near an already existing settlement of Celts centered on the nearby hill, the Frauenberg near Leibnitz
Leibnitz
Leibnitz is a city in the Austrian state of Styria and at the 2001 census had a population of approximately 7.577 .It is located to the south of the city of Graz, between the Mur and Sulm rivers....
. Officially gaining full status as a Roman city by grant of a municipal charter by Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
in 70 AD, the settlement expanded and the local Celtic populations adopted Roman ways and technology. With a viewing platform and showroom built overlooking excavated Roman ruins, this museum offers visitors a glimpse into the everyday life, worship, and death cults of what was once the most cultured town of the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
province of Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
.
Schloss Trautenfels
The BaroqueBaroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
of Schloss Trautenfels
Schloss Trautenfels
Trautenfels Castle is located in the district of Liezen in Styria. It lies directly on the Enns at 673m in the municipality Pürgg-Trautenfels on a cliff protrusion at the foot of the Grimming.- History :...
is situated at the foot of the Grimming on a protruding cliff in the municipality Pürgg-Trautenfels
Pürgg-Trautenfels
Pürgg-Trautenfels is a municipality in the district of Liezen in Styria, Austria.- Geography :Pürgg-Trautenfels lies in valley of the upper Ennstal between Gröbming and Stainach. The municipal area is bordered in the south by the Enns; in the north it stretches right up to the main ridge Toten...
. In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
the cliff protrusion held a small damn on the Enns River up until the 16th century. In 1664 the area was bought by the Styrian provincial governor, Count Siegmund Friedrich von Trauttmansdorff and subsequently converted and expanded by him into an early Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
residence which now bears his name. The staterooms feature both Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
frescoes and paintings as well as the Antler Room of the Counts of Lemberg, and the stunning Marble Hall all of which are open to visitors.
Regional Landscape & Folkloristic Museum
Beginning in the 1950s a concerted effort was made to collect objects relating to the natural and cultural history of the Ennstal region of Upper Styria and the Styrian Salzkammergut
Salzkammergut
The Salzkammergut is a resort area located in Austria. It stretches from City of Salzburg to the Dachstein mountain range, spanning the federal states of Upper Austria , Salzburg , and Styria . The main river of the region is the Traun, a tributary of the Danube...
. Both the splendor of the landscape and the palace itself are on display as the exhibition wanders through the various rooms of the palace. Objects of geological interest as well as the rural domestic life of the region are on display. The exhibition also displays exhibits recollecting the historic transitions and their impact on the people of the region such as the Reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
and Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
. The permanent show collection presents about 1000 exhibits relating to both the land and the people over the course of history in of the Ennstal Valley as well as the Ausseerland
Bad Aussee
-Tracht:Bad Aussee is unique within Austria as its inhabitants wear Tracht, or traditional dress, on a daily basis. Within other regions of Austria, it could almost be taken as a political statement if one were to wear Tracht. For women, this consists of a Dirndl, a type of dress with a fitted...
from the Middle Ages to the early modern era.
Schloss Stainz
Schloss StainzSchloss Stainz
Schloss Stainz is a former monastery of the Augustinian Canons in Stainz in Styria, Austria. Today the Baroque complex belongs to the Counts of Meran and hosts two museum collections from the Universal Museum Joanneum.- History :...
is a former Augustinian Canons Regular
Canons Regular
Canons Regular are members of certain bodies of Canons living in community under the Augustinian Rule , and sharing their property in common...
monastery purchased by Archduke Johann in 1840 and remains today in the estate of his heirs, the Counts of Meran. In addition to various rooms, terraces and arcades being available to rent for private functions, the former monastery also houses two of the Joanneum's collections:
Hunting Museum
The hunting museum is fittingly located in Schloss Stainz which was acquired by Archduke Johann in 1840 and used as a hunting residence. The design of the exhibition understands the hunt as a historical, sociological and philosophical-ethical phenomenon and offers the visitor a chance to examine the connections of hunting, ecology and nature. The interdisciplinary approach to this exhibition combines Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
animal trophies, historical tools and weapons, paintings and artwork with state-of-the-art technology and museum design to illustrate the development of the hunt from the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
through Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
times up to the time of nobles and the early days of the middle-class.
Agriculture Museum
The agriculture museum likewise compliments the forward thinking of Archduke Johann. The main focus of the collection is to show the rural farming, husbandry and forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
techniques prior to industrialization
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
as well as the implements and photographic evidence relating to these practices. Original room furnishings from the 17thth and 18th centuries provide a view into the different dimensions of rural life in Styria. The open areas hold a smithy, a cabbage pit, herb garden, an orchard and a small field to demonstrate various aspects of this pre-industrial
Pre-industrial society
Pre-industrial society refers to specific social attributes and forms of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution. It is followed by the industrial society....
, rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
lifestyle.
Further information
- Das Joanneum – Österreichs Universalmuseum (2006) [DVD] By Günther Schilhan (director) & Helmut Gesslbauer (producer), Austria: ORF Steiermark
- Schloss Eggenberg. By Barbara Kaiser. Graz: Christian Brandstätter Verlag, 2006. ISBN 3-902510-80-3 (English Edition) or ISBN 3-902510-96-X (German Edition) (available through the Joanneum)
- Alte Galerie – Masterpieces. By Ulrich Becker et al. Graz: Landesmuseum Joanneum, 2005. (English edition) ISBN 3-7011-7533-0
- Katalog: Alte Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum – Mittelalterliche Kunst. By Gottfried Biedermann & Günther Diem. Graz: Landesmuseum Joanneum, 1982.
- Hans Adam Weissenkircher: Fürstlich Eggenbergischer Hofmaler. By Barbara Ruck. Graz: Landesmuseum Joanneum, 1985.
- Giovanni Pietro de Pomis. By Kurt Woisetschläger et al. Graz: Verlag Styria, 1974. ISBN 3-222-10847-1
- Eggenberg – Geschichte und Alltag. By Gerhard M. Dienes & Karl Kurbinzky et al. Graz: Stadtmuseum Graz, 1999. ISBN 3-900764-22-0
- Die Römersteinsammlung des Landesmuseum Joanneum. By Erich Hudeczek. Graz: Landesmuseum Joanneum, 2004. ISBN 3-9500410-3-6
- Krieger, Feste, Totenopfer – Der letzte Hallstattfürst von Kleinklein in der Steiermark. By Markus Egg & Dieter Kramer. Mainz: Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 2004. ISBN 3-222-10847-1
- Piranesi. By Anđelka Galić. Graz: Landesmuseum Joanneum, 2004. ISBN 13: 978-39020951-0
- Bildwerke: Renaissance – Manierismus – Barock. By Gottfried Biedermann et al. Klagenfurt: Verlag Carinthia, 1996. ISBN 3-85378-442-9
- Rembrandt – Radierungen. By Karen Leitner-Ruhe et al. Graz: Alte Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, 2006. ISBN 3-902095-07-5