Photos: Isiwal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Bernd Thaller from Graz, Austria, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo credits
Photos: Isiwal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Bernd Thaller from Graz, Austria, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
A palace designed around the calendar
Your local guide
Barbara Wach
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Highlights
- 365 windows, one for each day
- A courtyard designed around the planets
- A calendar built into stone and glass
- Gardens extending the same symbolic design
- Graz's most deliberately designed building
About this tour
This session looks at a Baroque palace designed entirely around the calendar. You see the symmetrical facade with its three hundred and sixty five windows, the courtyard decorated with planetary symbolism, and finally the grounds extending the same design outward. It moves from the building itself out into its surrounding parkland.
I explain each layer of the calendar symbolism as we reach it, since the design only makes sense once you see how deliberately it repeats. Questions about the numbers and the symbolism are welcome throughout.
This suits anyone interested in how an entire building can be designed around one idea. It also suits anyone who enjoys palace grounds as much as the buildings themselves.
Included
- Live video walk with a local guide
- Questions to your guide all the way
- A short list of places to visit later
Not included
- Internet connection
- Travel to the city
Itinerary
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Welcome and sound check 6 min
The guide joins the video call, checks the picture and sound with you, and gives you a quick sense of Graz before heading out.
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Palace Facade 17 min
You see the symmetrical Baroque facade, its windows built to total three hundred and sixty five, one for each day of the year.
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Planet Courtyard 17 min
Inside the courtyard, the camera finds decoration tied to ideas about the planets known at the time, part of a design built entirely around the calendar.
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Palace Grounds 17 min
Walking the grounds, I explain how the gardens were laid out to extend the same symbolic design from the building itself out into the surrounding parkland.
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Your questions 11 min
Time to ask anything about Graz: prices, safety, food, or whatever you are curious about.
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A short list to keep 5 min
Before you go, the guide sums up with a few things worth remembering: a dish to try: Sterz and Gries, worth a slower look.
Good to know
- A stable wifi or mobile connection makes the picture smoother than a shaky one.
- Any phone, tablet or laptop with a camera works. You watch, the guide does the walking.
- Times are shown in Vienna time, so check the time where you are before you book.
- The session is not recorded, and recording it yourself is not allowed. Feel free to take your own notes.
- Ask questions any time, out loud or in the chat. The guide will pause to answer.
- Sessions run in small groups, up to 10 people, so there is room for everyone to ask something.
Questions about this tour
What will the session cover?
The guide walks through Graz, showing you Palace Facade and Planet Courtyard live on camera, plus whatever else you would like to see.
What happens if my connection drops?
Rejoin with the same link within a few minutes and the guide will catch you up on anything you missed.
Can I ask the guide questions during the session, or is it a fixed script?
Anything, any time. Sessions leave room for your own questions throughout, not just at the end.
Do I need to know the history already?
No background needed. The guide explains everything as it comes up.
How it works
- You get one join link after booking.
- Join from any device: phone, tablet or laptop.
- We meet on Google Meet and the link comes with your booking. I worked on the grounds team here for years before guiding, so I know the palace's design in real detail.
Times shown in Vienna time (CET)
Cancellation
Flexible
- Cancel up to 24 hours before the start: full refund.
- Cancel less than 24 hours before the start, or no-show: no refund.
- If the guide cancels or the date does not reach its minimum group: full refund.
- Cancel in My Account → Bookings; the refund is calculated from the start time in the tour's local time.
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Next: Fri 20 Nov · 10 seats left From 26,00 €
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