The Styrian Treasury holds the cultural history collection of the Joanneum and encompasses around 35,000 objects from all areas of the aesthetically formed way of life – from the Middle Ages up to the present-day: They bear witness to Styrian history and offer examples of life among Styrian royalty and nobility as well as the domestic life of the aristocracy and middle-class; artisans' crafts in metal, wood, ivory, ceramic, glass and textiles as well as collections of wrought iron objects, tracht and musical instruments are presented. The Styrian ducal hat, the magnificent coach of Emperor Frederick III and a stone coat of arms from the Graz Castle count among the most significant objects in the collection. To coincide with the Joanneum's bicentennial year, the cultural history collection opened the Museum im Palais in Summer 2011 in the former Herberstein city palace along the Grazer Sackstrasse and presents a newly designed permanent exhibition complimented by special exhibitions.
The Museum im Palais is housed in the former Palais Herberstein and, in addition to the show collection and temporary exhibitions, also has the Baroque staterooms open to visitors. The Palais Herberstein was originally renovated into a Baroque city palace for the Princes of Eggenberg by Austrian architect Joseph Hueber. The palace passed into the possession of a branch of the Herberstein family in 1774 after the extinction of the male line of Eggenberg heirs.