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Graz

Graz
Rathaus (Town Hall) at dusk
Rathaus (Town Hall) at dusk
Coat of arms of Graz
Coat of arms
Graz is located in Austria
Graz
Graz
Location within Austria
Coordinates: 47°4′N 15°26′E / 47.067°N 15.433°E / 47.067; 15.433Coordinates: 47°4′N 15°26′E / 47.067°N 15.433°E / 47.067; 15.433
Country Austria
State Styria
District Statutory city
Government
 • Mayor Siegfried Nagl (ÖVP)
Area
 • Total 127.56 km2 (49.25 sq mi)
Elevation 353 m (1,158 ft)
Population (1 January 2016)
 • Total 280,200
 • Density 2,200/km2 (5,700/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal codes A-801x, A-802x, A-803x, A-804x, A-805x
Area codes +43 316
Vehicle registration G
Website www.graz.at
UNESCO World Heritage Site
City of Graz – Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
The Grazer Schloßberg Clock Tower
Location Austria
Type Cultural
Criteria ii, iv
Reference 931bis
UNESCO region Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription 1999 (23rd Session)
Extensions 2010
Largest groups of foreign residents
Nationality Population (2014)
 Germany 6,611
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 5,850
 Romania 5,772
 Croatia 5,326
 Turkey 4,765
 Hungary 3,172
 Slovenia 2,061
 Slovakia 1,938
 Italy 1,578
 Russia 1,568
 Serbia 1,410
 Kosovo 1,315
 Afghanistan 1,000
 Nigeria 935
 Poland 881
 Egypt 750

Graz (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʁaːt͡s]) is the capital of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. On 1 January 2017, it had a population of 320,587 (of which 286,686 had principal residence status). In 2014, the population of the Graz Larger Urban Zone who had principal residence status stood at 605,143.

Graz has a long tradition as a "university town": its six universities have more than 44,000 students. Its "Old Town" is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.

Politically and culturally, Graz was for centuries more important for Slovenes than Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and still remains influential.

In 1999, Graz was added to the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Sites, and the site was extended in 2010 by Schloss Eggenberg. Graz was sole Cultural Capital of Europe for 2003 and got the title of a City of Culinary Delights in 2008.

The name of the city, Graz, formerly spelled Gratz, stems most likely from the Slavic gradec, "small castle". Some archaeological finds point to the erection of a small castle by Alpine Slavic people, which in time became a heavily defended fortification. In literary Slovene, gradec still means "small castle", forming a hypocoristic derivative of Proto-West-South Slavic *gradьcъ, whichs descends via liquid metathesis from Common Slavic *gardьcъ and via the Slavic third palatalisation from Proto-Slavic *gardiku (cf. the Ancient Greek toponym Γαρδίκι), originally denoting "small town, settlement". The name thus follows the common South Slavic pattern for naming settlements as grad. The German name 'Graz' first appears in records in 1128.


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