Location

Seggau Castle, Austria

The IFPA 2008 Annual Meeting will be held at Seggau Castle in the southern Styrian area of Austria.

Seggau Castle, rising above southern Styria's wine growing country, can be seen for miles around and offers a modern convention centre integrated into the old fabric of the castle building.

The castle’s history goes back to Roman times. The upper castle was built by Salzburg archbishops in the 12th century as an administrative and missionary bastion and expanded by the bishops of Seckau in 1219. The castle harbours outstanding artistic treasures the most impressive of which are the prince-bishop’s entertainment rooms which feature completely preserved baroque furnishings.

Seggau Castle served as the seat of the Styrian bishopric until 1786, and served on as its summer residence well into the 20th century.

Seggau Castle is not only an international convention centre, but also an episcopal vineyard whose origins date back to the baroque. The 300 year old wine cellar, with its venerable wooden barrels, is one of Styria’s largest and oldest wine cellars.

How to get there

There is easy access to Seggau from Graz airport.

Graz has a number of direct flights from European cities. A train runs from Graz airport to Leibnitz (the town next to the Seggau Castle) every hour – the journey takes 26 minutes and costs €6. You then need to take a taxi the 4km up the hill to the castle.