Position and climate

In the town, where the sub-alpine mountains and the hilly wine growing world meet, warm summers, golden autumns, short and ever less cold winters and luxuriant springs change hands. The river Drava, which flows through Maribor, and the surrounding wine growing hills and forested Pohorje give the town a recognisable seal.

Highlights of the centuries

As a town Maribor was first mentioned in the year 1254. A lively trade in cereals, wine and wood develops along with the milling and tannic trades. Goods were shipped by rafts also to the Danubian region and to the Balkans, all the way down to the Black Sea. That period of great economic activity ends at the end of the 15th century when Emperor Maximilian banishes Jews from inner Austrian lands. In the year 1532 the town, with its own forces, prevents a siege by the mighty army of the Turkish sultan Suleiman II. In the 17th century numerous fires and epidemics struck it. In the 18th century Jesuits found a grammar school, the town gets a permanent theatre and a printing house. The railway line Vienna –Trieste in the middle of the 19th century enables modern urbanization, the town expands to the right bank of the river Drava. In the year 1859 Maribor becomes the seat of the diocese and gets a theological seminary. The architecture of the 19th century denotes neo-historical styles and monumental neo-renaissance palatial buildings. The first electric light bulb for far around was lit up in Maribor already in the year 1883. Maribor enters the 20th century as a modern European town. In the year 1918, after the end of the First World War and the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Maribor lands in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after the 1941-1945 Nazi occupation in the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. Since the year 1991 Maribor is the second largest town in the Republic of Slovenia.

Today

Maribor is a friendly town with a beautifully tendered historical core, which is created by a real labyrinth of old squares, lanes and passageways. Many restaurants – also with authentic national culinary offers - bars, taverns, pubs, with music at night and other locals and a casino and small shops and tiny art galleries give the town a lively throb. But it also preserves its 'discrete charm', which is its visitors perhaps touches the most. The town with its one hundred thousand inhabitants is the seat of the university and many other cultural institutions. It has a developed quality tourist offer with the entire necessary infrastructure.

Old town core

A defence wall dating from the 13th century enclosed it. The south-eastern corner, where there was once the Jewish quarter, is preserved in its entirety. Reminders of its past history are the miniature, but attractive street Židovska ulica, the Gothic style synagogue from the 14th century, and the fort tower Židovski stolp. Lower down by the river Drava is the renaissance Water Tower. Preserved at the south-west end of the defence wall is the Judgement Tower. Since the end of the 15th century the town castle stands where the north-eastern corner of the defence wall stood. The square Glavni trg hosts the old, renaissance Town Hall (“Rotovž“), the baroque Church of St Aloysius with its former Jesuit college and a row of old buildings with interesting façades. In the middle of the square stands a monument to the plague, a beautiful example of local baroque statuary art. The Cathedral of St John the Baptist, with its foundations dating from the 12th century, dominates the square Slomškov trg. Beside the archiepiscopal residence we can also find the eminent buildings of the Slovene National Theatre Maribor, the seat of the University of Maribor and the postal service Pošte Slovenije. The square is rounded off with a smaller, but important old styled building. The nearby street Gosposka ulica has a seal of homeliness. From the square Glavni trg heading south, the medieval Butcher’s passageway and Rafter’s passageway lead steeply down towards the river Drava. The latter passageway leads to the Old Vine House, where the oldest grape vine in the world grows.

A few more details from Maribor's tourist offer

Mariborsko Pohorje represents the largest winter sports centre, and the Wellness and Congress centre below it one of the most complete offers of its kind in the country. The lakes of the river Drava give opportunity for rowing, sailing and organised trips with a raft. In the town there are many sports-recreation centres and top-notch stadiums, swimming pools, halls, ice-rink etc. In the nearby vicinity of the town wine roads wend their way through the vineyards of Slovenske gorice and along the slopes of Pohorje and even run through Maribor itself. They are scattered with wine cellars and wine shops, tourist farms and many other symbols of wine, culinary and ethnological culture. The synonyms of the wine tradition are represented by the 150 year old wine cellar in the centre of the town, which with its some two kilometre long passages is one of the largest in central Europe, and the Old Vine House by the river Drava.

Old Vine

Old Vine, the oldest vine in the world, which gives the wine sort Blue Franconian, is a world attraction. For almost five hundred years it has thrived in Lent, on the façade of a building dating from the 16th century that has been renovated in its original style. The Old Vine House is today an event site and simultaneously a museum, dedicated to autochthon wine cultures, wine fraternities, Archduke Johann Hapsburg, who lifted the wine culture of Štajerska to a topmost level. In the house and at the disposal of visitors is the largest wine tasting and sales offer from the Maribor wine growing district. There are also souvenirs on sale and a tourist information centre.