Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg commissioned the palace in 1625, and the architect Giovanni Pietro de Pomis planned it, inspired by El Escorial in Spain. De Pomis oversaw building until his death in 1631. The shell was finished around 1635 and 1636, and ornamentation was completed between 1641 and 1646.
The palace has 365 exterior windows, one per day. The 24 state rooms on the piano nobile represent the hours of the day, and 52 of the windows represent the weeks of the year. The design is meant as a symbol of an ordered cosmos. The footprint is 213 by 262 feet (65 by 80 m), and the central tower is 164 feet (50 m) tall.
Johann Seyfried von Eggenberg began the Baroque development in 1666, and Hans Adam Weissenkircher finished the Planetary Room in 1684 and 1685. UNESCO added the palace in 2010 as an extension of the Graz Historic Centre.
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