Maribor Castle

One of the most remarkable architectonic monuments of our city grew exuberantly right in its center: Maribor’s town castle is surrounded by the busy squares of Grajski trg, Trg svobode, and Trg Generala Maistra, and in the castle, you can visit the Regional Museum of Maribor, which is home to many collections of great value that will certainly impress you!

The castle, which boasts several construction and style periods, was been built by Emperor Friderik III between the years 1478 and 1483 for the purpose of fortifying the northeastern part of the town wall. The castle was over time changed into a rich feudal residence.

The main room in the castle is the Festive Hall. The hall has rich interior furnishings with pictures of the artistic Quadri family and Laurenzo Laurigo. On the oval ceiling, there is a picture of a battle between Christian and Turkish soldiers, which was painted by Johann Gebler from Graz in 1763. In 1874, as was then written by the then chronicler “in front of a selected public” Franz Liszt gave a concert in the Festive Hall. Famous people stopped by, as well. It is well known that the castle was visited by several monarchs: the Roman Emperor Leopold I, his son, later Emperor Charles VI, and, almost certainly, Charles` daughter Maria Theresa of Austria, and the Russian Crown Prince and later Tsar Paul I. On one occasion, Pope Pius VI stayed overnight. During the Second World War, Adolf Hitler visited the castle when Maribor fell under German occupation.

Among the more important construction achievements of the castle are the following:

• the Baroque stairway built between 1747 and 1759,
• the Loretto chapel on the south frontage, built between 1665 and 1675, and
• the Festive Hall on the 1st floor with its wonderful ceiling, painted by Jožef Gebler and its murals.

The eastern castle frontage finishes with a bastion on the northeastern corner. It is the work of the builder Domenic dell’ Allio from the year 1556 to 1562 and it represented the defence point on the town moat.