Palais Saurau, Graz, Renaissance city palace in Sporgasse, Graz, Austria.
Palais Saurau is a three-story Renaissance palace with four wings surrounding a rectangular courtyard featuring Renaissance arcades and a decorated stone portal. The building displays the coat of arms of the Saurau family and represents the architectural style of the early modern period in the city.
Pankraz von Windisch-Graetz received the plot from Emperor Ferdinand I in 1564 and built the palace by 1566, as the dates on a pillar at the entrance record. His Protestant heir Friedrich sold it in 1629 to Karl Graf von Saurau, governor of Styria, who gave the building its name. In 1846 it passed by inheritance to the related Goëss family after the Saurau line died out.
The name comes from Karl Graf von Saurau, who bought the palace in 1629 after the Protestant Windisch-Graetz family had to leave Styria. His descendant Count Zeno Maria von Saurau, the last of the line, was Obermarschall of Styria; in 1846 the building passed to the related Goëss family, whose descendants still own it.
The palace underwent extensive restoration in 1988 and remains in private ownership of the Goëss-Saurau family, limiting public access. Visitors can view the exterior facade and courtyard from the street and appreciate the architectural details from outside.
A carved wooden figure of a Turk holding a sword protrudes from a window below the roof overhang on the facade. This unusual sculpture served as a recognizable emblem of the Saurau family and remains one of the building's most distinctive features today.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,092 contributors worldwide.