Past glory of a 70s building
The Graz "pre-clinic" at the time of its creation
In an information brochure from the opening year 1977, the "pre-clinical" building is proudly presented as a state-of-the-art technical achievement. The building for the preclinical institutes was planned by architects Ernst Hoefer and Emo Meister. University Professor Walter Rosenkranz, in his role as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, was delighted with the new opportunities for training doctors at the University of Graz. In his foreword, he emphasized that this new building had given the Faculty of Medicine a "teaching and research facility unlike any other Austrian or foreign university".
According to the brochure, the largest lecture hall on campus with 500 seats and a large-screen TV system was to be available on the student level on the ground floor not only for students, but also for conferences and other events. The dissection rooms were designed to accommodate 450 students at the same time. The chrome-nickel steel dissection tables inside were developed and designed by the Graz anatomist Walter Thiel himself - production was carried out by a company in Vienna. Characteristic for the time of the nuclear arms race is the fact that, in addition to the morgue and the room complex for animal experiments, radiation protection rooms for 600 people were also provided in the basement. They were equipped with their own power supply and drinking water fountains.
In July 2023, the building was finally vacated and prepared for demolition. The preclinical institutes had long since moved to the campus of the Medical University, which was founded in 2004.
