Graz Opera Graz Opera Graz Opera (German: Oper Graz) is an Austria opera house and opera company based in Graz. The orchestra of the opera house also performs concerts as the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra ("Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester"). Opera had been performed in Graz since the 17th century, originally in a converted coach house on the Habsburg royal estates. The National Theatre (Schauspielhaus Graz), constructed in 1776, saw many early performances of Mozart's operas, although today (after many reconstructions) it is devoted to the performances of plays. The city's first dedicated opera house and the immediate predecessor of the Graz Opera was the
Graz it remains influential to this day. In 1999, Graz was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, and the site was extended in 2010 with Eggenberg Palace (German: Schloss Eggenberg). Graz was the sole Cultural Capital of Europe of 2003 and became a City of Culinary Delights in 2008. The name of the city, Graz, formerly spelled Gratz, most likely stems from the Slavic "gradec", "small castle". Some archaeological finds point to the erection of a small castle by Alpine Slavic people, which over time became a heavily defended fortification. In literary Slovene, "gradec" still means "small castle",