The old and the new Ursuline convent in Graz Anonymus, 1901

Catholic Education for Girls

In the course of Counter-Reformation, many orders settled down in Graz too. The imperial house, which aimed for a systematic recatholicisation of Styria, was the driving force behind this. School education for girls was the main aim of the Ursuline Order, which was founded in 1535. The monastery, which was erected in the Sackstraße between 1696 and 1722, was dismantled in 1900 except for the church. In the very same year, the order moved into a new building in the Leonhardstraße, which had been conceived by Josef Schmalzhofer. The painting was created on this occasion.