Museum für Geschichte

About the museum

The Palais Herberstein on Sackstraße arose from two 16th-century town houses that the Eggenberg family combined in 1602. Their heirs, the Counts of Herberstein, had the complex extensively rebuilt between 1754 and 1761 by the master builder Joseph Hueber; this phase still shapes its appearance today. Behind the long façade lie several courtyards with arcades and Pawlatschen (open galleries), state and living rooms, and former service areas nestled against the Schloßberg.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries the building was put to very different uses, including as the residence of the Duchess of Berry, as a courthouse and as a dance school. It has served as a museum since 1941: first the Neue Galerie of the Joanneum moved in, which relocated to the Joanneumsviertel in 2011. In the same year the Kulturhistorische Sammlung (Cultural History Collection) came to Sackstraße from Neutorgasse.

Since 2017 the house has operated as the Museum für Geschichte (Museum of History) of the Universalmuseum Joanneum. It unites the Cultural History Collection with around 35,000 objects and the Multimedia Collections with about three million photos, films and sound documents. The permanent exhibition “100 x Steiermark” has told the story of the region’s development and change in around a hundred episodes since 2017, a visible storage area shows the breadth of the holdings, and since 2022 “Warum?” (Why?) has been devoted to National Socialism in Styria. Among the best-known pieces is the Styrian Ducal Hat. Light installations by Brigitte Kowanz add contemporary accents to the historic building.

Highlights

• Styrian Ducal Hat
• Permanent exhibition “100 x Steiermark” with around 100 episodes of regional history
• Exhibition “Warum?” on National Socialism in Styria
• Visible storage of the Cultural History and Multimedia Collections
• Baroque Palais Herberstein with courtyard galleries and Rococo rooms
• Light installations by Brigitte Kowanz

Permanent exhibitions

• 100 x Steiermark – Around a hundred episodes on the development of Styria from the High Middle Ages to the late 20th century – from rule and poverty to medicine, industry and suffrage.
• Warum? Der Nationalsozialismus in der Steiermark – Asks what the appeal of the Nazi regime lay in and shows extensive photo and film holdings from all regions of the country; designed especially for young people.
• Schaudepot – A dense collage of objects from the Cultural History Collection and the Multimedia Collections in a deliberately raw, industrial design.

Founded

2017

Operated by

Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH

Director

Bettina Habsburg-Lothringen

Admission & discounts

Free admission: National Holiday (26 October): free admission

The ticket is valid for one admission on one calendar day. Free admission with the cultural pass “Hunger auf Kunst & Kultur”; Graz Card and GenussCard are valid. Reductions, among others, with the Bühnen Graz Card; Drei KulturSonntag: two tickets for the price of one on Sundays.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials
• Audio description: no information

Level entrance from Sackstraße to the ticket desk; the upper floors can be reached step-free via the large gate and by lift; accessible toilets on the 1st and 2nd floors. The red carpet is somewhat wobbly because of its substructure. In the permanent exhibition on the 2nd floor, one passage near the end is too narrow for electric wheelchairs – but the exhibition can be seen in full from the other side. Wheelchair loan free of charge at the ticket desk (against photo ID). Tours for blind and visually impaired people with tactile elements, as well as in Easy Language, on request (inklusion@museum-joanneum.at).

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Regular family tours for young and old on Sunday afternoons (dates in the calendar); programmes for school classes and kindergarten groups.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Lockers

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit