Before the museum opens

“Styrian Archduke” carried Tyrol in his heart

The Schenna Castle near Meran. Archduke Johann and his wife Anna were laid to rest in the mausoleum there.

(Bild: UMJ/J. J. Kucek)

In the run-up to the opening of the Archduke Johann Museum in Stainz Castle, a delegation from the Universalmuseum Joanneum and the province explored his second home in South Tyrol.

What, Archduke Johann doesn't even have a museum in Styria yet? - This is the reaction one often hears when talking about the establishment of this very institution in Stainz Castle, the ancestral seat of his descendants, the Counts of Meran. On 11 May, the time has finally come to pay tribute to the man to whom the Green Margraviate owes its prosperity. The Habsburg's achievements will be showcased on 650 square meters in the former residential wing of the Merans.

Archduke Johann, the "Styrian Prince", will finally have a museum.

(Bild: Landesmuseum Joanneum)

It will not be very military, as history shows that the younger brother of Emperor Franz I was less interested in that. However, as a reformer and innovator in the fields of industry, agriculture, education and culture, he is undisputed. "The face of Styria would not be the same today without Archduke Johann," says Governor Christopher Drexler.

With apples and wine into a better future
He revolutionized agriculture with model farms such as his Brandhof or the one in Graz's Naglergasse, where he had more than 1000 varieties of apples cultivated and generously distributed. For a time, every Styrian baptized received an apple tree. Soybeans and flax were cultivated on the model farms, as were lemon trees in Kalwang.

The fact that, thanks to the introduction of 150 different grape varieties, the good "Sunday wine" is now consumed exclusively in Styria is also thanks to the Styrian by choice, who was actually born in Florence and whose heart belonged in no small part to the Tyroleans who revolted against Napoleon. Today, however, he has largely been forgotten there; only in Schenna is his legacy upheld.

One of the great concerns of the "Styrian Prince" was education, for example he founded the forerunner of the University of Mining in Leoben and the University of Technology in Graz, the provincial library and the provincial archives. With the Joanneum, he created an educational institution which to this day is not only about presenting the many treasures, but also about research. And so it is no coincidence that it is precisely this institution that has set up the museum for the Habsburg "Sturschädel".

It certainly helped that his great-granddaughter, the mother of the current Count Franz Meran, who died in 2017, told the museum director in Stainz: "Wirnsberger, make an Archduke Johann Museum!" For Karlheinz Wirnsberger, this was an assignment that he was happy to carry out and for which he did not have to do much convincing of the decision-makers in the province and Joanneum.

In the run-up to the opening of the museum, a Styrian delegation consisting of the directors Marko Mele and Josef Schrammel, as well as other members of the Joanneum, followed in the footsteps of the Archduke in South Tyrol.

The Styrian delegation with the Meran families.

(Bild: UMJ/J. J. Kucek)

Museum delegation on the trail of Johann
Johann and his Anna not only lived at the family seat at Schenna Castle, he is also buried in the neo-Gothic mausoleum built by his son at his own request.

The Merano family lovingly preserves his legacy.

(Bild: UMJ/J. J. Kucek)

Last weekend, the provincial governors Arno Kompatscher and Christopher Drexler laid a wreath there in the spirit of the "Joannean axis" - the connection between South Tyrol and Styria. With everything that goes with it: Tyrolean marksmen and a delegation from Stainz. And the head of the family, Count Franz von Meran and his wife Angelika, as well as the residents of the castle, Countess Johanna von Meran Spiegelfeld and her husband Count Franz von Spiegelfeld.

Ceremonial wreath-laying at the Archduke's grave.

(Bild: UMJ/J. J. Kucek)

For the latter, Schenna is more than just a residence; with great attention to detail, the couple themselves give a guided tour of their estate and often show very personal mementos of Archduke Johann and his Anna Plochl, later Baroness of Brandhofen and Countess of Meran.

The trip took place at the invitation of the Universalmuseum Joanneum.