Ngooooooooook: Glavni trg/Main square, Maribor

Maribor's biggest square

Glavni Trg/Main square/Hauptplatz Maribor

Glavni trg (pronounced as "Glao·nee terg" meaning Main square) is the biggest square in Maribor. It was first mentioned in 1315 as Markt (Slovenian Trg, which meant Market square). It was renamed into Hauptplatz or Glavni trg in the 19th century, because it became the center of Maribor's daily life. The majority of people in Maribor at that time were Germans and Slovenian lands were under Austria's rule, hence the German name.

Glavni trg in the first and second half of the 20th century (my friend's postcard scans).

When Maribor became part of Slovenia (under Kingdom Yugoslavia) in 1918, the square was officially named Glavni trg. In 1913, the Old Bridge (Slovenian Stari most) was built over the river Drava and changed the southern part of the Main square (see changes of Glavni trg on totibastard.blog.siol). From 1941-1945 the Germans annexed Maribor to the Third Reich and renamed the square to Adolf-Hitler-Platz. After 1945, when Maribor was liberated by Yugoslav antifascist forces, the square was named Glavni trg again. And it holds the same name until today.

Let me show you few impressions from Glavni trg:

Impressive Ludwigshof house from 1905 and the Plague monument from 1743.

Glavni Trg/Main square/Hauptplatz Maribor

The Town hall of Maribor (Slovenian Mestna hiša or Rotovž, formerly Rathaus) from 1515.

Glavni trg went through many changes in history (like whole Maribor). But what happened after 1945? In 1981 an ugly building cut the square in half. While the western part has stayed more or less the same as centuries before, the Eastern part changed a lot and served as a bus station and parking space (sometimes both). A roundabout was built few years ago in the southern part of the square to make the traffic smoother. However there are plans to transform the whole square together with the old bridge into a pedestrian area. See some plans here and here (in Slovenian).

The Plague monument (Slovenian Kužno znamenje) in September 2007.

A view on the western side of the Main square in November 2010.

View on the eastern part of Glavni trg. On the right side is the impressive Theresienhof from 1913.

Truth is, the Main square today is empty. There are few cafés and shops, but too few to attract people. It's like a museum on the open. It's definitely worth to see it and snap some photos, but I'm not sure what would make people stick around a little longer. We'll see, how the new redesigned version of the square (supposedly finished by 2012) will look like and if it'll bring the people back. I'm skeptical.

A roundabout, placed here few years ago. Not really a good idea, if you ask me.