Ptuj

	Ptuj ; Pettau
Basic data
Country	Slovenia
Historic region	Lower Styria / Štajerska
Statistical region	Podravska (Drau region)
Coordinates	46 ° 25 ' N , 15 ° 52' E Coordinates: 46 ° 25 '7 " N , 15 ° 52' 17" E
height	232 m. i. J.
surface	66.7 km²
Residents	23,117 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	347 inhabitants per km²
Telephone code	(+386) 02
Post Code	2250
License Plate	MB
Structure and administration
Mailing address	Mestni trg 1 ; 2250 Ptuj
Website	www.ptuj.si

View of Ptuj with Castle Hill

Ptuj ( pronunciation ^?^/^I , German Pettau ) is the oldest town in Slovenia and the oldest town in the former Duchy of Styria . It is located in the historical Spodnja Štajerska ( Lower Styria ) region and in the statistical region of Podravska .

geography

location

The city of Ptuj is located in the eastern corner of the Dravsko polje (Draufeld) on the left bank of the Drava River . Parts of the municipality are in the Slovenske gorice (Windischen Bühel). In addition to the Drava, the municipality is also traversed by the Grajena (Grajenabach) and Ragoznica (Ragosnitzbach) brooks , which flow shortly after the city into the Ptujsko jezero , the Ptujsk reservoir of the Formin hydropower plant.

The next larger cities are Maribor about 23 km northwest and Varaždin in Croatia about 38 km east. In addition, the city is the seat of the administrative unit Ptuj ( Slov .: Upravna enota Ptuj ). This administers the municipality of Ptuj and the municipalities of Hajdina , Markovci , Gorišnica , Dornava , Kidričevo , Destrnik , Trnovska vas , Sveti Andraž v Slovenskih goricah , Juršinci , Videm , Zavrč , Podlehnik , Žetale and Majšperk .

City structure

The municipality is divided into eight district communities ( Slovene : Četrtne skupnosti , abbreviation: ČS ). They represent the executive power of the municipality and collect suggestions from the population:

ČS Breg-Turnišče
ČS Center
ČS Grajena
ČS Jezero

ČS Ljudski vrt
ČS Panorama
ČS Rogoznica
ČS Spuhlja

In addition, the municipality is divided into 10 localities, but these have no administrative significance. The German exonyms in brackets were mainly used by the German-speaking population until the area was ceded to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 and are largely uncommon today. (Population figures as of January 1, 2017):

Grajena, 336
Grajenščak ( Grajenaberg ), 498
Kicar ( Kitzerberg ), 784
Krčevina pri Vurbergu ( Kartschovina ), 892
Mestni Vrh ( City Hill ), 673

Pacinje ( Patzing ), 236
Podvinci ( Podvinzen ), 835
Ptuj ( Pettau ), 17.780
Spodnji Velovlek ( Untervelovlek ), 203
Spuhlja ( Pichldorf ), 880

Neighboring communities

Duplek , Lenart	Destrnik	Juršinci
Starše		Dornava
Hajdina	Videm	Markovci

history

The present urban area was already settled in the Neolithic Age. Essential for the development of the settlement in pre-Roman times and afterwards was its location along the Amber Road . It was first mentioned in 69 . However, Pettau only gained relative importance in the time of the Roman Empire . In Latin the city is also known as Petovio , Petabio , Petavio , Poetavio , Potabio and Patavio , in ancient Greek Ποτόβιον Potabion and Παταβίων Patabion . In 69 AD Vespasian was proclaimed Roman emperor in Ptuj. Under Emperor Trajan , the settlement received city rights and, as Colonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovio, became an important military, commercial and administrative center. In the battle of Poetovio , the counter-emperor Magnus Maximus suffered the decisive defeat against Theodosius I in July 388 . Until it was sacked by the Huns , around 40,000 people lived in the area of what is now the city. After the Avars , Slavs settled the area. Under the Slavic prince Pribina Ptuj was part of the Pannonian principality .

From the 9th century the Pettau area belonged to the Archbishops of Salzburg , whose most important ministerials in this area were the Lords of Pettau . Archbishop Konrad I (1106–1147) made peace with the Hungarians who invaded again and again and had an older, dilapidated castle rebuilt on the mountain above the city to secure the imperial border. He transferred the burgrave office to the Lords of Pettau, with whom there were repeated disputes in the period that followed. Despite the dominant lords of Pettau, a bourgeoisie developed in Pettau, which had achieved considerable prosperity through trade on the road from Hungary to Venice, which crossed the Drava here, and through shipping on the river. Around the middle of the 13th century, the town of Pettau was walled, but the town charter was not recorded in writing until 1376, at the express request of the Salzburg Vice Cathedral in Leibnitz, who was responsible for the administration of the Salzburg possessions in Central and Lower Styria. The Pettau town charter from 1376 with its 195 articles favored trade and commerce and is one of the most beautiful and closed legal monuments in the south-eastern Alps. In 1458 Emperor Friedrich III evacuated . to thank the Archbishop of Salzburg for a different kind of courtesy to the city of Pettau. In 1479 the Hungarians allied with Salzburg occupied the castle and town of Pettau, which could only be captured by King Maximilian I after the death of King Matthias Corvinus in 1490 . Maximilian pledged Pettau to the Archbishopric of Salzburg in 1511 and it was not until 1555 that King Ferdinand I bought the lordship, town and castle of Pettau / Ptuj back, after which it was finally incorporated into the Duchy of Styria and remained until the end of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1918/1919. During this time there were repeated clashes with the Ottoman Empire and natural disasters also caused considerable damage to Pettau / Ptuj.

A turning point in the history of the city was the construction of the southern railway between Vienna and Trieste at the end of the 19th century. At that time the route ran via Marburg / Maribor, and Pettau remained without funding. The population and importance decreased rapidly.

When Austria-Hungary collapsed in 1918/19, the newly founded Republic of German Austria claimed the area of Pettau, but Yugoslavia came to be without a vote . The originally predominantly German-speaking city population of Pettau (86% in the old town in 1910) has already decreased considerably due to the Slavic policies of the interwar period. Even before 1919, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages spoke almost exclusively Slovene . During the National Socialist rule and occupation by the German Wehrmacht from 1941 to 1944, the Slovenian population was partially expropriated and deported. As part of the agreement between Mussolini and Hitler of 1939, Germans from South Tyrol and the Gottschee (Krain) who were expelled from their homeland were settled, who were then expelled or fled in 1945 together with the long-established German Pettauers and accepted into Austria, but also to America found. Since 1945 the city has been inhabited almost exclusively by Slovenes.

Buildings and green spaces

Alley in the center of Ptuj

Old town hall of Ptuj, seat of the town council until the beginning of the 20th century, baroque facade

The new town hall is housed in a former citizens' palace from 1906.

In the core of the place, buildings from the development period have been preserved and listed . These include the old town hall (see picture), the new town hall (a former citizens ' palace from 1906), further citizens' palaces, the castle (the castle) on the top of the mountain. The latter is characterized by several architectural styles, including Venetian influences.
The building ensemble has served as a regional museum since the beginning of the 1950s. In the following decades the collections were steadily expanded and perfected.

Ouroboros in one of the walls of Ptuj Castle

Church buildings worth mentioning are St. Georg (in the neighborhood of the town hall), St. Peter and Paul , St. Oswald and the former monastery church on the mountain, now the Assumption of Mary .

In addition, the Orpheus monument stands on the town square , according to the inscription it is the tombstone of Marcus Valerius Verus , the Roman governor of Poetovio from the 2nd century and above all the town tower . The city tower is a church tower- like structure that was built in 1556 according to plans and under the direction of Antonio de Pivo . In 1830 the residents walled up ancient monuments in the base of the tower. Further in the center the statue of Florians is worth seeing and mentioning.

Culture and sport

The following festivals and events take place in Ptuj and the surrounding area (selection):

Kurentovanje - the largest organized carnival event in Slovenia and Central Europe

International film festival Primus

Chamber music festival Musica Poetovionis

International Festival of Contemporary Art

Ptujska noć ( Culture Night in Ptuj)

Roman games and

three goods exhibitions (trade fairs; in April, August and November).

There is a thermal bath on the edge of the village .

An art gallery has been set up in a former round chapel on the banks of the Drava. In addition, two ball sports clubs have established themselves, the Drava football club and the Drava Ptuj handball club .

Community partnerships

Ptuj maintains partnerships with the following cities and municipalities (as of 2018):

Burghausen (Germany)
Seeboden am Millstätter See (Austria)
Varaždin (Croatia)
Aranđelovac (Serbia)
Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia)
Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (France)
Ohrid (Macedonia)

Daughters and sons of the city

Marcus Valerius Maximianus (2nd half of the 2nd century AD), Roman senator and general in the Germanic Wars of Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Victorinus von Poetovio († 304), bishop, church father, exegete, martyr

Alfred Amschl (1852–1926), Austrian lawyer and writer

Rudolf Thommen (1860–1950), Swiss historian

Otto Johannsen (1864–1954), German engineer

Otto Wiesinger (1879–1962), Austrian infantry general

Luigi Kasimir (1881–1962), Austrian painter and etcher

Walter von Semetkowski (1886–1965), Styrian state and NS jugglers conservator and public education advisor
Franz Georg Strafella (1891–1968), Austrian entrepreneur, politician and director of the federal railways
Balduin Saria (1893–1974), historian, archaeologist and author
Hermann Pirich (1906–1980), journalist and writer
Linda Sadnik (1910–1998), Austrian Slavist
Angela Salloker (1913–2006), actress
Zdenko Verdenik (* 1949), football coach
Vilko Filač (1950–2008), cameraman
Željko Spasojević (1973-2014), football player
Aleš Šteger (* 1973), Slovenian author
Dejan Zavec (* 1976), world boxing champion
Marko Bezjak (* 1986), handball player
Kristjan Čeh (* 1999), discus thrower