Graz Cathedral

The Cathedral of Graz (Grazer Dom) was built in the 1460s under Emperor Friedrich III, who used it as his court church. The Gothic exterior is relatively plain; the interior is the reason to go in. The choir stalls are 15th-century Gothic, the reliquary cabinet in the sacristy still holds the personal relics Friedrich kept nearby, and the overall atmosphere is one of authentic medieval piety rather than tourist-polished grandeur.

Next to the cathedral stands the Mausoleum of Ferdinand II, and together they form a dense cluster of Habsburg religious architecture in the narrow streets east of the Hauptplatz. Worth 30 minutes of your time. Free entry.

Burgring/Kaiserstrasse area, directly south of the old town centre.

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A story
On the outer south wall of the cathedral hangs a large fresco from around 1485, showing the three plagues that afflicted Graz: the locust plague, the Turkish invasion, and the bubonic plague. It was painted as a votive offering, and it remains one of the most direct depictions of medieval catastrophe in Austria — three disasters laid out side by side in fading paint, still visible on the wall.

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