Palais Galler

Palais Galler, also known as Palais Prandegg, is a historic city palace on Karmeliterplatz in downtown Graz. It was built between about 1680 and 1690 as part of the city's Baroque expansion, on land belonging to a Count of Prandegg, who had the earlier buildings on the site torn down. The master builder Bartholomäus Ebner designed the building, which passed to the Galler family in 1693. The architecture is that of a massive block of two to four stories, depending on the slope of the hillside. The Baroque facade is marked by geometric plaster panels and flanked by two side projections. A Neoclassical balcony with paired Doric columns frames the arched portal, which is set in a stone surround. Inside, you can admire the cross-vaulted arcades resting on Tuscan columns as well as stucco ceilings from the 17th century. You can also see an Empire-style tile stove and a Neo-Renaissance fireplace. Two slits in the wall with barbed iron bars recall the site's medieval past. Since 1977, the palace has been home to the headquarters of the Styrian People's Party; before that, it served ecclesiastical and political purposes.