Schloss Karlau, former building in Styria, Austria
Schloss Karlau is a Renaissance castle in Graz with thick stone walls, four corner towers, and multiple stories originally designed as a hunting lodge. The building contains a small chapel dedicated to Saint Thomas and displays the solid construction style typical of the late 1500s.
The castle was built between 1584 and 1590 by Italian and Swiss architects for Erzherzog Karl II. After Karl's death, his widow Maria expanded the palace, and the building later served various purposes from a prisoner facility in the 1700s to a modern penitentiary.
The castle was once the heart of a large hunting estate, and nearby street names still recall this history. The chapel dedicated to Saint Thomas inside shows the site served religious purposes for the ruling family beyond its role as a hunting retreat.
The castle sits in southern Graz in the Gries district and is viewable from outside the street, though the interior is not open to visitors. The surrounding streets and parks offer good insight into the historical importance of the site.
Archaeologists discovered old Jewish gravestones beneath the castle grounds, revealing that the surrounding area was once home to a Jewish community. These findings point to a diverse past beyond the site's well-known role as a hunting lodge.
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