Schloss Thalerhof

Schloss Thalerhof stood on the right bank of the Mur in the flat Grazer Feld, just south of Graz Airport in the village of Kalsdorf. It began as a farm called Tallerhof before the 16th century, owned by a zinspflichtiger Bauer named Christof Taller. By 1536 the Irg von Kainberg family sold it to Peter Galler, who linked it to the Herrschaft Lannach. Later it passed to the Herrschaft Weissenegg and was renamed Prunnerhof by 1694. The estate served as a small administrative centre after several purchases expanded its landholdings. The castle changed hands many times through notable families and individuals. In 1730 Maria Cleopha von Grienbach sold it to Franz Karl Khulmer, whose widow and then Maria Franziska Gräfin Rindsmaul followed. Owners included Leopold Josef Hösch, Kajetan Freiherr von Langenmantel, the Postmeister of Kalsdorf, and Diözesanpriester Peter Johann Haider. By 1825 Adrian Wilhelm Graf des Enffans d’Avernas held the estate for eighty years, expanding its 36 hectares of arable land. The Schwarz family renovated it in 1897 before Luigi Mittel sold it to Friedrich Karl Freiherr von Rokitansky in 1904. The two-storey castle joined two wings at right angles around a small courtyard. Its Renaissance-style arcades faced the inner yard, and a small roof turret crowned the façade. Inside, a 1897 chapel on the first floor replaced an earlier one licensed in 1783, decorated by Rudolf Achleitner, Johann Roßmann, Peter Neuböck and Wilhelm Sirach. The painted altar by Felix Parazzutti showed Saint Josef, but after the last mass in 1904 the chapel closed. Despite later protection efforts, the building decayed and was demolished in 2000.