Discover Hartberg

Hartberg offers a range of themes to explore during your stay: the history of its buildings, street art in public spaces and Hartberger Gmoos, a wetland area. You can organize your plans around the questions that interest you most: architectural history, art or nature.

Architectural history from the castle to the churches

Hartberg Castle is considered the city’s secular nucleus. Its oldest walls are made of Romanesque ashlar stones. The Hartberg charnel house offers another perspective on Romanesque architecture: built around 1270 as a double rotunda, it is one of the most significant art-historical remnants of Staufer-era architecture in what is now Austria. The two examples show different architectural forms from this period: ashlar walls at the castle and the charnel house’s double-round design.

Hartberg’s churches also tell the story of different building periods. The pilgrimage church of Maria Lebing was built in the Gothic style in 1472; its interior was given a Baroque makeover in the 18th century. It has a history spanning almost 600 years. The branch church of St. Anna is a Gothic church dating from 1499. The dates make it easy to compare their chronology: St. Anna was built 27 years after Maria Lebing, while the later redesign of Maria Lebing’s interior is another defining feature.

Street art and museum exhibits

The hARTberg walk shifts the focus from older architectural history to contemporary art. The route features 31 murals by international street artists at 20 locations in Hartberg, creating a cultural tourism experience. The murals are in public spaces, where residents and visitors can enjoy them. If you are interested in street art, the hARTberg walk offers a different way to experience Hartberg’s culture than its historic buildings.

Part of the archive is open to visitors at the Hartberg City Museum. Among its museum treasures, both small and large, ordinary and unusual, are a Biedermeier-era toilet, a Pietätmander and a telephone switchboard from the 1920s. The selection highlights a variety of objects, adding another cultural perspective to the exploration of architecture and art in public spaces.

Wetland and archaeological traces

Hartberger Gmoos lies on the outskirts of the historic city of Hartberg in eastern Styria and is a Natura 2000 protected area. The wetland covers 70 hectares and borders the city directly to the south. A themed trail in the Gmoos offers insights into the world of ecology. Here, the focus is on landscape and nature—a clear contrast with the buildings and murals.

Another landmark is the Hartberg Ringwarte, a 30-metre-high observation tower. The Steinerne Stiege route passes archaeological excavations of the preserved ring rampart. Together, these themes offer different starting points for planning your trip: the height of a named tower, archaeological traces along a route and the wetland with its ecology-themed trail.

Discover more destinations: Buch-Geiseldorf, Riegersdorf, Burgau, Neudau, Sebersdorf, Flattendorf, Tiefenbach Bei Kaindorf, Sankt Jakob Im Walde

Return to the regional travel overview: Hartberg-Fürstenfeld.