| Name | Ljubljana |
|---|---|
| Official name | City of Ljubljana Mesto Ljubljana |
| Imagesize | 280px |
| Settlement type | City |
| Image shield | Blason ville si Ljubljana (Slovénie).svg |
| Pushpin map | Slovenia |
| Pushpin label position | bottom |
| Coordinates region | SI |
| Subdivision type | Country |
| Subdivision name | Slovenia |
| Established title | First mention |
| Established date | 1112–1125 |
| Established title1 | City rights |
| Established date1 | around 1220 |
| Parts type | Subdivisions |
| Leader party | |
| Leader title | Mayor and governor |
| Leader name | Zoran Janković |
| Area total km2 | 163.8 |
| Population total | 271.885 |
| Population density km2 | 1660 |
| Population as of | 2010 |
| Timezone | CET |
| Utc offset | +1 |
| Timezone dst | CEST |
| Utc offset dst | +2 |
| Coordinates display | title |
| Elevation m | 298 |
| Postal code type | Postal code |
| Postal code | 1000 |
| Area code | 01 (1 if calling from abroad) |
| Blank name | Vehicle Registration |
| Blank info | LJ |
| Website | www.ljubljana.si |
For centuries, Ljubljana was the capital of the historical region of Carniola, and in the 20th century it became the cultural, scientific, economic, political and administrative centre of Slovenia, independent since 1991. Its transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and cultural tradition are contributing factors to its leading position.
In the Middle Ages, both the river and the city were named Laibach. This name, derived from Old German, almost certainly means "a standing water causing floods". It was in official use until 1918.
The city's symbol is the Ljubljana Dragon. It symbolises power, courage and greatness. It is depicted on the top of the tower of the Ljubljana Castle in the Ljubljana coat-of-arms and on the Ljubljanica-crossing Dragon Bridge (), often regarded as the most beautiful bridge produced by the Vienna Secession.
There are several explanations on the origin of the Ljubljana Dragon. According to the celebrated Greek legend, the Argonauts on their return home after having taken the Golden Fleece found a large lake surrounded by a marsh between the present-day cities of Vrhnika and Ljubljana. It is there that Jason struck down a monster. This monster has become the dragon that today is present on the city's coat of arms and flag.
It is historically more believable that the dragon was adopted from Saint George, the patron of the Ljubljana Castle chapel built in the 15th century. In the legend of Saint George, the dragon represents the old ancestral paganism overcome by Christianity.
According to another explanation, related to the second, the dragon was at first only a decoration above the city coat of arms. In Baroque, it became part of the coat of arms and in the 19th and especially the 20th century, it outstripped the tower and other elements.
Around 50 BC, the Romans built a military encampment that later became a permanent settlement called Iulia Aemona (Emona). This entrenched fort was occupied by the Legio XV Apollinaris. In 452, it was destroyed by the Huns under Attila's orders, Emona housed 5,000–6,000 inhabitants and played an important role during numerous battles. Its plastered brick houses, painted in different colours, were already connected to a drainage system.
The oldest mention of Ljubljana is inscribed on a parchment sheet Nomina defunctorum (names of the dead), which is kept by the Udine Cathedral Archive. It dates from 1112 till 1125. Mentioned among the deceased is the barrister Rudolf, who bestowed canon with 20 farmsteads beside the castle of Ljubljana (castrum Leibach). When exactly Ljubljana acquired its town rights is not known, In the 13th century, the town was composed of three districts: the Old Square (), the New Square () and "Town" () (around the cathedral). In the 16th century, the population numbered 5,000, 70% of whom spoke Slovene as their mother tongue, with most of the rest using German. In 1815, the city became Austrian again and from 1816 to 1849 was the administrative centre of the Kingdom of Illyria in the Austrian Empire. In 1821 it hosted the Congress of Laibach, which fixed European political borders for years to come. The first train arrived in 1849 from Vienna and in 1857 the line was extended to Trieste. In 1929, Ljubljana became the capital of Drava Banovina, a Yugoslav province. In 1941, during World War II, Fascist Italy occupied the city, and on 3 May 1941 made "Lubiana" the capital of an Italian "Provincia di Lubiana" with the former Yugoslav general Leon Rupnik as mayor. After the Italian capitulation, Nazi Germany with SS-general Erwin Rösener and Friedrich Rainer took control in 1943
After World War II, Ljubljana became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, part of Communist Yugoslavia, a status it retained until 1991, when Slovenia became independent. Ljubljana remained the capital of Slovenia, which entered the European Union in 2004. In September 2010, Ljubljana was again heavily affected by floods. The most affected was Vič, flooded by the Gradaščica river and the Mali graben canal. The Ljubljanica and the Glinščica flooded too. The affected areas were also Vrhovci, Dolgi most, Kozarje and parts of the Ljubljana Marshes. Numerous roads and streets were closed. 3,000 customers of Elektro Ljubljana were temporarily left without electricity. Southern and western parts of the city are more flood-endangered than northern parts.
Ljubljana is near the confluence of the rivers Ljubljanica and Sava, at the foot of Castle Hill. The Sava river, in turn, flows into the Danube at Belgrade before reaching the Black Sea.
After the 1511 earthquake, Ljubljana was rebuilt in a Baroque style following the model of a Renaissance town; after the quake in 1895, which severely damaged the city, it was once again rebuilt, this time in a Vienna Secession style. The city's architecture is thus a mix of styles. The large sectors built after the World War II often include a personal touch by the Slovene architect Jože Plečnik.
Ljubljana Castle dominates the hill over the river Ljubljanica. Built in the 12th century, the castle (like the castle at Kranj) was a residence of the Margraves, later the Dukes of Carniola. Aside from the castle, the city's main architectural works are St. Nicholas Cathedral, St. Peter's Church, the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, the Triple Bridge and the Dragon Bridge.
Near the Town Hall, on the Town Square, is a replica of the Robba fountain, in Baroque style. The original has been moved into the National Gallery in 2006. Resembling the fountain on Rome's Piazza Navona, Robba's fountain is decorated with an obelisk at the foot of which are three figures in white marble symbolising the three chief rivers of Carniola. It is the work of Francesco Robba, who designed numerous other Baroque statues in the city. Ljubljana's churches are equally marked by this style that gained currency following the 1511 earthquake.
For its part, Vienna Secession features prominently on the Prešeren Square and on the Dragon Bridge. Among the important influences on the city was the architect Jože Plečnik, who designed several bridges, including the Triple Bridge, as well as the National Library. Nebotičnik is a notable high-rise.
Originally, the site was occupied by a three-nave Romanesque church first mentioned in 1262. Some residents nicknamed the bridge "mother-in-law" in reference to the fearsome dragons on its four corners.
At the edge of Tivoli Park is a fish pond, dating back to 1880. On one side of the pond is a small botanic garden, on the other side is a children's playground. Between 1921 and 1939, Jože Plečnik designed a broad central promenade, called the Jakopič Promenade () after the leading Slovene impressionist painter Rihard Jakopič.
Shortly after the opening of the bridge padlocks of couples in love started appearing on its steel wires, symbolizing declarations of eternal love, a phenomenon similar to the one on the Parisian Pont des Arts.
Around 78% of the population speak Slovene as their native language. The second most spoken language is Serbo-Croatian which is (in its different versions: Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin) the native language of more than 15% of the population.
, the jurisdiction of the Police Directorate Ljubljana () covers the area of , which represents 18.8% of the national territory. There are 17 police stations employing 1,380 individuals, of whom 1,191 are police officers and 189 are civilians. Slovenia and in particular Ljubljana have a quiet and secure reputation.
The public order and municipal traffic regulations are also supervised by the city traffic wardens ().
Industry remains the city's most important employer, notably in the pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and food processing. deals with large Slovenian companies. Some of these have their headquarters in the capital region: for example, the retail chain Mercator, the oil company Petrol d.d. and the telecommunications concern Telekom Slovenije. Over 15,000 enterprises operate in the city, most of them in the tertiary sector.
Numerous companies and over 450 shops are located in the BTC City, the largest business, shopping, recreational, entertainment and cultural centre in Europe. It is visited each year by 21 million people. It occupies the area of in the Moste Quarter Community in the eastern part of Ljubljana.
In 2004, the National and University Library of Slovenia, located in Ljubljana, had 1,169,090 books in all. The Ljubljana Zoo covers and has 152 animal species. An antique flea market takes place every Sunday in the old city.
The National Gallery (Narodna galerija), founded in 1918, This lively street has numerous clubs and concert halls that play various types of music, mainly alternative rock. Another alternative culture centre is located in the former Rog factory. In the 1980s, Ljubljana became the centre of the Neue Slowenische Kunst, which among others included the music group Laibach and the painters of the IRWIN collective; the philosopher Slavoj Žižek was also associated with it.
The city's football teams which play in the Slovenian PrvaLiga are Interblock Ljubljana and NK Olimpija Ljubljana. There are two stadiums in the city. Bežigrad Stadium, which was built according to the plans of Jože Plečnik and is closed since 2008, was the home of the NK Olimpija Ljubljana dissolved in 2004. The much larger Stadium Stožice, opened since August 2010, is the home of the NK Olimpija Ljubljana established in 2005.
Each year since 1957, on 8–10 May, the traditional recreational March along the Path of Remembrance and Comradeship has taken place to mark the liberation of Ljubljana on 9 May 1945. The last Sunday in October, the Ljubljana Marathon is run on the city's streets. It attracts several thousand runners each year.
The Tacen Whitewater Course, located on the Sava River, eight kilometers northwest of the city centre, hosts a major international canoe/kayak slalom competition almost every year, examples being the 2008 International Canoe Federation (ICF) Slalom World Cup and the 1991 and 2010 World Championships.
Ljubljana Airport (IATA code LJU), located north of the city, has flights to numerous European destinations. Among the companies that fly from there are Adria Airways, Air France, Brussels Airlines, EasyJet and Finnair. Among the destinations served are Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Belgrade, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Istanbul, Kijev, London, Manchester, Moscow, Munich, Ohrid, Paris, Podgorica, Prague, Pristhina, Stockholm, Skopje, Vienna, Warsaw, Tirana, Tel Aviv and Zurich. and there are numerous taxi companies. The city bus rides may be paid with the Urbana payment card (also used for the funicular) or with a mobile phone. Sometimes, the buses are called trole ("trolleys"), harking back to the 1951–71 days when Ljubljana had trolleybus (trolejbus) service. There were five trolleybus lines in Ljubljana, till 1958 alongside the tram.
The tram system in Ljubljana is a small one. It was originally built in 1901. In the post World War II era, many Yugoslav towns and cities with tram systems took out their systems, as they took up a lot of space in an era when automobiles were more important. In Ljubljana the tram's end came in 1958. In its final years the system reached length of over 21 kilometers. Soon after the last day of operation the tracks were dismantled and the cars were transferred to Osijek and Subotica.
Almost fifty years later, at the end of 2006, a new tram line was opened. The tram is a funicular, and goes from the Krek Square near the Ljubljana Central Market to the Ljubljana Castle. The tram is especially popular among tourists. It runs between the hours of 9:00 and 21:00, and the full trip lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. There are plans to build more lines in the future.
Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Populated places in the Municipality of Ljubljana Category:Municipalities of Slovenia
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