Schloss Strass

Schloss Straß stands in the eastern part of the southern Styrian village of Straß, in the municipality of Straß in Steiermark. Its origins go back to the 12th century, when the Lords of Mureck built a fortified courtyard on the site to protect the newly settled village from eastern raids. By the mid-13th century the stronghold and the village had passed to the Lords of Neitperg, who sold it in 1286 to Friedrich von Pettau. The estate remained a freehold throughout the 15th century under the noble Lords of Graben. In about 1550 the property reached Bartholomäus von Eggenberg, who rebuilt the small medieval fortress into a Renaissance palace after it was damaged in the Turkish raid of 1580. Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg completed the new castle in 1616, and by 1622 Straß had become the seat of a district court. Maria Eleonore Leslie inherited the lordship in 1740. By the late 18th century the estate comprised 336 tenant houses scattered across 54 villages. After passing to Karl Graf Attems in 1806 the castle was no longer lived in by its owners but served as a residence for the steward and several tenants. In 1852 the military bought the building and two years later remodelled it in the neo-Gothic style. It first housed a cadet academy, then a barracks, and from 1945 accommodated refugees. Since 1955 it has again served as an Austrian army barracks, the Erzherzog-Johann-Kaserne, and part of the building now contains a regimental museum.