Grafenstein: Churches, Castle and Art

Grafenstein combines castle and church architecture with art, local craft history and landscape-related themes. Its cultural history offers several distinct starting points for planning a trip: buildings with different stylistic elements, an artistic ensemble and links to local brickmaking. This makes Grafenstein a destination for visitors with a range of interests in architecture and art.

Churches and Their Architectural History

The parish church of St. Stephen in Grafenstein has a barrel vault with lunettes and an extensive Rococo stucco decoration dating from 1756. A barrel vault is a lengthwise vault; lunettes are smaller vault sections that cut into a larger vault. These terms describe the shape of the space, while the stucco decoration and Baroque ceiling paintings relate to its ornamentation. The paintings are located in both the nave and the choir. The same church therefore brings together different features: the shape of the vault, the Rococo stucco work and Baroque paintings in two specified parts of the church.

The church of St. Anne in Saager also reflects different periods. It has surviving Romanesque elements and was expanded during the Baroque period. The Romanesque features and later expansion therefore represent different phases in its architectural history. The pilgrimage and motorway church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Forest in Dolina has a more recent architectural connection: the church was redesigned in 1999/2000 by the architectural partnership of Ferdinand Certov and Robert Morianz. The date refers to this redesign. For orientation in the region, it is signposted east of Klagenfurt, before the Poggersdorf motorway exit.

Saager Castle and the Work of Giselbert Hoke

The castle of the Princes Orsini-Rosenberg in Grafenstein was built in 1638 by Johann Andreas von Rosenberg. This links the building to a specific year of construction and its builder. Another connection to art history leads to Saager: Saager Castle near Grafenstein was a center of Giselbert Hoke’s artistic work. The Werkhaus Saager and its grounds were created by Hoke and form a unique ensemble and complete work of art. They bring together architecture, space, design and art. The castle and the Werkhaus thus point to two different aspects of his work: a place where he created art and an ensemble designed by him.

The workshop weeks at the Werkhaus Saager have developed into an open studio. Artists come together there, engage intensively with contemporary art and seek new directions in their individual visual languages. If you want to include the workshop weeks in your travel plans, check the dates in advance, as the schedule may change.

Crafts and Landscape

Austria’s last hand-operated brickworks is located in the municipality of Grafenstein. Another term associated with local crafts is Grafenstein tile: this is the name for floor tiles that were originally made at the Orsini-Rosenberg family’s brickworks. The name therefore refers both to a particular type of floor tile and to the place where it was originally made.

Grafenstein also offers a variety of hiking opportunities. There are floodplain landscapes along the Gurk and Drau rivers. Hiking and landscape thus offer distinct themes for a stay alongside architectural and art history. Visitors planning their trip primarily around architecture will find different points of interest from those interested in hiking opportunities and river landscapes.

Discover more destinations: Schiefling Am See, Reifnitz, Moosburg in Kärnten, Sankt Bartlmä, Keutschach Am See, Ludmannsdorf, Radsberg, Ferlach.

See the broader travel overview: Klagenfurt-Land.