Neu-Grabenhofen

Schloss Neu-Grabenhofen stands in Graz, on the Grabenhofenweg. It is a small country house rather than a grand palace. The building’s roots go back to the early 1500s, when it was first put up. Over the centuries it has been owned by noble families and officials. The estate once included a wine cellar, a press for making wine, and two small vineyard workers’ houses. These outbuildings show how the place supported itself in earlier times. The castle’s story is full of quick changes of hands. In 1591 Friedrich Freiherr von Hofmann sold it to Dr Adam Venediger. By 1600 it belonged to Niklas Tschandik, a councillor to the prince. In 1611 Adam Grueber and his wife Maria Salome bought the whole estate. Later, in 1773, Josef Boseth von Trautenburg purchased both Neu-Grabenhofen and the nearby Alt-Grabenhofen and joined them together. After 1777 the property kept passing from one owner to another. Today the house remains a quiet reminder of Graz’s past. Its walls still hold the marks of wine-making life from four centuries ago. The vineyard workers’ houses sit close by, their simple shapes unchanged. Visitors walk past the old cellar and press, imagining barrels and grapes where they once stood. The lane leading to the gate is lined with plane trees, their shade falling on the gravel drive. From the garden there is a view across the surrounding vineyards to the hills beyond.