Graz

Geschichte

Graz is the capital of Styria and the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. On 1 January 2017, it had a population of 320,587 (of which 286,686 had principal residence status). In 2015, the population of the Graz larger urban zone who had principal residence status stood at 613,286.Graz has a long tradition as seat of universities: its six universities have more than 44,000 students. Its historic centre is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.For centuries, Graz was more important to Slovenes, both politically and culturally, than the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, and it remains influential to this day.In 1999, Graz was added to the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Sites, and the site was extended in 2010 with Eggenberg Palace (German: Schloss Eggenberg). Graz was sole Cultural Capital of Europe for 2003 and got the title of a City of Culinary Delights in 2008.EtymologyThe name of the city, Graz, formerly spelled Gratz, most likely stems from the Slavic gradec, "small castle". Some archaeological finds point to the erection of a small castle by Alpine Slavic people, which over time became a heavily defended fortification. In literary Slovene, gradec still means "small castle", forming a hypocoristic derivative of Proto-West-South Slavic *gradьcъ, whichs descends via liquid metathesis from Common Slavic *gardьcъ and via the Slavic third palatalisation from Proto-Slavic *gardiku, originally denoting "small town, settlement". The name thus follows the common South Slavic pattern for naming settlements as grad. The German name 'Graz' first appears in records in 1128.