Exploring a palatial universe

Not many would embrace the new calendar until much later. Greece, the last European country to adopt the reform, began to use the calendar only in 1923.

Also, before the palace was built, Eggenberg chose an associate, who would become more important in history than he was.

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), the German astronomer and mathematician, was a school teacher in Graz, until he became Eggenberg's associate. Eggenberg later recommended Kepler to be the mathematician for the imperial court.

Kepler's three laws of planetary motion were a key part of the 17th scientific revolution. He also did fundamental work for modern telescopes, when he invented the Keplerian Telescope.

To remember him, NASA launched a space telescope named Kepler in 2009, which is surveying the Milky Way to find Earth-sized, possibly habitable planets outside the solar system.

It is believed that Kepler had an impact on the design of Eggenberg's palace. One of the most popular ten-euro commemorative coins, minted in 2002, had the Eggenberg Palace on the front side, and Kepler's image on the reverse side.

Kepler's ideas on planets, and also the Gregorian calendar, which the palace followed, were both revolutionary at the time. Developments in mathematics, astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics then changed people's views of society and nature, and led to the social movement known as the Enlightenment.

Despite the emergence of modern science, the century was still dark in many ways. Witchcraft trials, for example, were still common in Europe. A woman who had a dispute with Kepler's brother claimed Kepler's mother made an evil brew and made her sick, and the mother was put into prison.

In the era that struggled between ancient and modern ideas, a beautiful architecture was built on the fresh ideas about our universe. It was a miracle by itself.

Another miracle is a Japanese folding screen used as a decoration in one of the state rooms. The screen, divided into eight panels, portrays the palace and the town of Osaka before 1615, when it was burnt down in a fire.

The screen, recently known to the world, is probably the most detailed portrayal of pre-fire Osaka, Japan's second largest city, in the world. Shining with gold, it adds to the unearthly feel of this constructed universe.