Stages of the bourgeoisie – A Styrian city-country party around 1900 / Museum für Geschichte, Graz, Styria

© Ansichtskarte Am Strand, 1902, Sammlung Kubinzky

14.02.2025 – 02.11.2025

It is not a new phenomenon that people like to show and present themselves. Today, mainly in social media. Formerly in museums and department stores, in parks and boulevards, at spas and beaches, in ballrooms and grand hotels; in 19th century Europe, places like these became stages of social life and catwalks for the bourgeoisie: people showed themselves, were seen, met people of the same status. This applies to Graz, but can also be traced for the cities of Styria. The following questions will be answered using specific examples: How do the new facilities/institutions change the cityscape or townscape? How are the new places used, what social practices emerge around them: rules and rituals, dress codes, etc., which entail the inclusion, but also the exclusion of people. What effect do these places have on everyday working life and the leisure behaviour of middle-class society? How do they change the relationship between the sexes? Who are the people who make the new bourgeois world possible on a daily basis?

Stages of the bourgeoisie – A Styrian city-country party around 1900
14.02.2025 – 02.11.2025
Museum für Geschichte
Sackstraße 16, 8010 Graz
www.museum-joanneum.at