Welsersheimb Palace

The Palais Welsersheimb is a Baroque city palace in Graz, located at the corner of Hans-Sachs-Gasse and Am Eisernen Tor in the Innere Stadt district. Today, the premises house, among other things, the Moser bookstore.

The war paymaster Count Sigmund von Stubenberg commissioned the construction of the palace, which was built according to the plans of Joachim Carlone from 1689 to 1694. The plot of land, along which the former city wall ran, was ceded to him by the Styrian estates. After the death of Count Wolfgang von Stubenberg, the palace was bought by Count Josef von Welserheimb, who gave the building its name. The house, parts of which were rented out, remained in the possession of Count Welsersheimb's descendants until 1956. After the demolition of the Graz city fortifications, the family bought the adjacent landscape bastion and had a terraced garden built. Around 1812, Louis Bonaparte, a brother of Napoleon, lived in Palais Welsersheimb. In 1861, the building was enlarged and a carriage house with accompanying stables was added.

From 1911, the tenants of the palace included the Bohemian Union Bank, and from 1924 to 1957, the Restaurant Reif. After the partial destruction of the east wing by aerial bombs in World War II, the shoe factory Humanic bought the palace in 1956, but sold it only three years later to the Österreichische Länderbank. Under this owner, the restoration of the damaged east wing began. Since spring 2005, the majority of the palace has been used by the Moser bookstore.