Graz Cathedral
Grazer Dom47°04′ N 15°27′ E
Come to the cathedral of the Graz-Seckau diocese for Christmas Eve, when the bishop says the midnight Mass and brass plays from the tower beforehand. It is a working parish church first, so visits stop while Mass is on.
Photo Taxiarchos228 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 and others, credited in the gallery
Emperor Frederick III built the church as his Gothic court chapel between 1438 and 1462, and the Jesuits added the Baroque fittings during their two centuries here. It is dedicated to St Giles, the patron saint of Graz. On the outside south wall, look for the Landplagenbild, a fresco painted around 1485 by Thomas von Villach that shows a Turkish raid and other disasters as divine punishments on Graz. The Mausoleum of Ferdinand II stands next door and is closed from November 2026 to the end of March 2027.
On Christmas Eve 2025 the cathedral held a children's nativity service at 15:00 and a Mass at 17:00. Brass played from the tower at 22:00, the congregation sang shepherds' songs and carols at 22:30, and Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl said the midnight Mass at 23:00. The parish hasn't yet published its 2026 times.