Maribor
The oldest records of Maribor date from 1164, when it was mentioned as a castle. A settlement existed there as early as 1209. The region around Maribor was under Habsburg rule until 1918, when the Kingdom of Yugoslavia took over. In 1991, Maribor became part of independent Slovenia.
Points of interest
- The old town of Maribor used to be surrounded by city walls. Some parts of these walls remain and include
- The Jewish Tower.
- The Judgement Tower (Sodni Stolp) is a fortified medieval tower. It was constructed in 1540, on the location of an earlier 14th century tower. In 1937, it partly burned down and it was restored in the 1950s.
- The Water Tower (Vodni Stolp) was built in 1555.
- The Main Square is surrounded by beautiful historic buildings.
- The Gothic Roman Catholic Maribor Cathedral (Mariborska Stolnica) was built in the 12th century. The building was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.
- The Franciscan Church.
- Maribor Synagogue (Sinagoga Maribor) is though to have been built at the end of the 13th century, making it the second-oldest synagogue of Europe. It remained a synagogue until 1497 and then served as a church from 1501 until 1785. Since 2001, it has been the the Center of Jewish Cultural Heritage Synagogue Maribor, which is a Jewish history museum.
- The oldest records of Betnava Castle (Dvorec Betnava) date from 1319, when it was known as Wintenaw. The mansion is located not far from Maribor.
- Maribor Castle is a Baroque mansion. It houses a regional museum and it is located in the center of town.
- The remains of Upper Maribor Castle are located on Pyramid Hill.
- The National Hall.
- Town Hall (Mariborski rotovž) was built in 1515. It was remodeled in a Renaissance style between 1563 and 1565.
- The Baroque Plague Column (Kužno znamenje) stands in the square outside the town hall. The memorial commemorates the victims of the plague epidemic, also known as the 'black death', that devastated the city in 1680. The original monumant was erected in 1681, but the extant one dates from 1743.
- Studenška brv (Studenci Footbridge) is the smallest bridge that crosses the Drava River in Maribor. It connects the neighborhood of Studenci on the right bank with the district of Lent on the left bank. The original bridge was built in 1885. It was destroyed by a flood in 1903, but a year later, it was rebuilt. This bridge was blown up by the Royal Yugoslav Army in 1941. The German Army rebuilt the bridge, it was again destroyed by floods in 1946. In 1948, a new steel-girder bridge with an asphalted road was built. The bridge was rebuilt to its original appearance in 2008.
- The modern Faculty of Medicine opened in 2013.
- Maribor City Park is the main park in Maribor. It includes the City Aquarium and Terrarium. There is a wide promenade that leads to the Three Ponds, where you can see over 100 species of deciduous and coniferous trees.
- In 1941, the German opened Stalag XVIII D (306) in the vicinity of Maribor. It was a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp complex, where captured Western Allied and Soviet soldiers were detained. Nowadays, a museum to commemorate these events, operates there.
There are numerous hotels and restaurants in Maribor. The city is 105 km northeast from Ljubljana.
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; "Image 4 - Bridge over the Drava River ©Janez Fabijan [80kB]")
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