Guests and Feasts

In the autumn of 1673, the young Prince Johann Seyfried and his magnificent new residence took centre stage in Europe for a short time. On the occasion of his marriage to the Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Tyrol, Emperor Leopold I had granted Johann Seyfried the honour of becoming the bride's host in Graz. In the days leading up to the wedding, the bride-to-be and her mother, Anna de' Medici, were welcomed as guests of the Princes of Eggenberg in the recently completed residence. Wedding procession Prince Johann Seyfried spared no expense in order to fittingly receive the beautiful young Empress and her entourage. At the palace portal an inscription in the form of the chronogram AVE CLAUDIA IMPERATRIX awaited her and can still be seen today. The guests took up their quarters in the magnificently designed and furnished rooms of the new Bel Étage.

The wedding ceremony had been set for 15 October in the Hofkirche church in Graz, which is now the cathedral. On the day of the ceremony the whole city was on its feet and buzzing with a feeling of elatedness in expectation of the coming spectacle. After the ceremonious lunch, the never-ending procession of over 90 carriages each drawn by six horses, which was to accompany the bride from Eggenberg into the city, set off to the sound of trumpets and drumming. This was the only imperial wedding to take place in Graz. The ceremony was followed by two whole weeks of court celebrations and religious festivals, musical entertainment and theatrical performances. And it wasn't until 3 November that the court returned to Vienna. Prince Johann Seyfried had proved himself to be an excellent host; but he was, however, to feel the economic effects of his generosity for a long time to come.

After renovations to the Bel Étage had been completed, another Imperial visit from the Viennese Court by Emperor Franz Stephan and Maria Theresa marked the ceremonial and splendid inauguration of the Eggenberg Palace and its new gardens in 1765. The Imperial family under Franz Stephan and Maria Theresa had, together with the Archdukes Joseph and Leopold, embarked on a journey to Innsbruck where Leopold was to marry Princess Maria Ludovica of Spain. The sweltering July heat had turned the tiring Court Journey into a torturous trip for all those participating and the party was only too pleased to be able to break for rest at a suitable location. In Eggenberg the revered guests were entertained with much pomp and ceremony for one whole week.

After engaging in their favourite pastime of hunting and paying visits to noble families in Graz, the party was all too pleased to return to Eggenberg to participate in the evening entertainment, which was held in the gardens due to the extreme heat. The Imperial family was extremely impressed by their host Johann Leopold Count Herberstein and as a special privilege he was always invited to attend the Imperial banquets. His wife, Maria Eleonora von Eggenberg, was already too old and frail to take an active part in the Imperial visit. On 9 July, the huge Imperial party set off on the next leg of its difficult and arduous journey to Innsbruck in order to attend the wedding of Archduke Leopold to Princess Maria Ludovica of Naples and Sicily. Not long after the wedding Maria Theresa was to lose her beloved Franz Stephan to the consequences of a stroke in Innsbruck on 18 August, 1765.