Styria is one of the nine states of the Republic of Austria. Its capital is Graz, which, followed by Leoben, Kapfenberg, Bruck an der Mur and Feldbach, is by far the largest city in Styria with 1.252.922 inhabitants. The second largest Austrian state in terms of area (16.400km²) and fourth largest in terms of population (1.25 million), Styria borders the Austrian states of Carinthia, Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Burgenland, as well as the Republic of Slovenia to the south (common border 145 km).
Styria is popularly called the “Green Mark” and, mainly in tourism, the “Green Heart of Austria”, as about 61 percent of its area are forested and another quarter is covered by meadows, pastures, orchards and vineyards. While the south is characterised by Mediterranean wine hills and thermal spas, the north is characterised by rugged high mountains – Dachstein, which also gives its name to the Styrian anthem, is the highest peak in Styria at almost 3.000 metres.
Styrian industry is strongly export-oriented – three quarters of the products produced in Styria are sold abroad, especially to Germany, Italy, the United States and China. The primarily small and medium-sized enterprises can be divided into economic clusters, such as a mobility cluster, green tech cluster, wood cluster or health tech cluster. The intertwining of entrepreneurship, on the one hand, and science and research on the other contributes significantly to the success of the Styrian economy. As a higher education location with five universities, two universities of applied sciences and two colleges of education, Styria covers a broad spectrum from mining and metallurgy to medicine and art.
Styria also provides a variety of cultural offers: From more than a dozen museum locations all over the region, being part of Universalmuseum Joanneum, to street art festivals like La Strada, Diagonale – Festival of Austrian Film, Styriarte music festival, Steirischer Herbst festival of modern art as well as Aufsteirern – cultural heritage festival in the streets of Graz. The capital also was Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003, which e.g. Kunsthaus – Museum of Modern Art and the Acconci Island in the River Mur are architectural witnesses of.
https://www.kultur.steiermark.at/cms/ziel/116320405/DE
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