Ptuj

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Ptuj
Old Town of Ptuj
Coat of arms
Location of the Municipality of Ptuj in Slovenia
Ptuj Location of the city of Ptuj in Slovenia
Coordinates: 46°25′N 15°52′E / 46.417°N 15.867°E / 46.417; 15.867
Country	Slovenia
Region	Lower Styria
Municipality	Ptuj
Government
- Mayor	Štefan Čelan
Area
- Total	25.8 sq mi (66.7 km2)
Population (2002)
- Total	23,242
- males	11,203
- female	12,039
Average age	36.65 years
Residential areas	29.94 m2 (322.3 sq ft)/person
Households	8,303
Families	6,780
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, census of 2002.
Website	Official site

Ptuj (German: Pettau; Latin: Poetovio) is a city and one of 11 urban municipalities in Slovenia. It is situated in Lower Styria (northeastern Slovenia), and has about 23,000 inhabitants.^[1]

It is a colorful city with a diverse nightlife. There are many parks and public spaces inside and outside of the city. The nearest airports are Ptuj Sport Airfield (Moškanjci), which is seven kilometers away, and Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport, which is eighteen kilometers away.

[edit] History

Ouroboros in a wall of the castle of Ptuj

Ptuj is the oldest city in Slovenia. It dates back to the Stone Age and was settled by Celts by the Late Iron Age.^[2] By the 1st century BC, the settlement was controlled by Ancient Rome. In 69 AD, Vespasian was elected Roman Emperor by his legions in Ptuj, and the first written mention of the town of Ptuj is from the same year. The city of Poetovio was the base-camp of Legio XIII Gemina in Pannonia. The name originated in the times of Emperor Trajan, who granted the settlement city status and named it Colonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovio in 103. The city had 40,000 inhabitants until it was plundered by the Huns in 450.^[2]

In 570 the city was occupied by Eurasian Avars and Slavic tribes.^[2] Ptuj became part of the Frankish Empire^[2] after the fall of Avar state at the end of 8th century. Between 840 and 874 it belonged to the Slavic Balaton Principality of Pribina and Kocelj. Between 874 and 890 Ptuj gradually came under the influence of the Archbishopric of Salzburg;^[2] town privileges passed in 1376 began an economic upswing for the settlement. As Pettau, it was incorporated into the Duchy of Styria in 1555.^[2]

Ptuj as seen from the castle.

Pettau was a battleground during the Ottoman wars in Europe and suffered from fires in 1684, 1705, 1710, and 1744.^[2] Its population and importance began to decline in the 19th century, however, after the completion of the Vienna-Trieste route of the Austrian Southern Railway, as the line went through Marburg (Maribor) instead.

According to the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, 86% of the population of Pettau's Old Town was German-speaking, while the population of the surrounding villages predominantly spoke Slovenian. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I, Pettau was included in the short-lived Republic of German Austria, but after the military intervention of the Slovenian general Rudolf Maister, the entire territory of Lower Styria was included into the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Yugoslavia). During the interwar period, the number and the percentage of those identifying as Germans in the town, which was renamed Ptuj, decreased rapidly, although a relatively strong ethnic German minority remained.

After the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Ptuj was occupied by Nazi Germany. From 1941 to 1944 the town's Slovenian population was dispossessed and deported. Their homes were taken over by German speakers from the province of Bolzano-Bozen and the Gottschee County, who had themselves been evicted according to an agreement between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. These German immigrants, along with the native German Pettauer, were expelled to Austria in 1945; many later settled in North America.

Since 1945 Ptuj has been populated almost completely by Slovenians.

[edit] City neighborhoods

Ptuj Tower.

[edit] Landmarks

Ptuj Town Hall

• Ptuj Castle
• Cerkev sv. Jurija
• Mali grad
• Ptujski rotovž
• Dominikanski samostan
• Orfejev spomenik
• Minoritski samostan
• Zgornji dvor
• Cerkev sv. Ožbalta
• Florjanovo znamenje

[edit] People

• Victorinus of Pettau, bishop of the city and Catholic saint
• Nastja Čeh, Slovene footballer, played in the UEFA Champions League with Club Brugge
• Miha Remec, Slovene science fiction author
• Benka Pulko, Slovene long distance motorcycle traveler, writer, photographer, humanitarian and Guinness World Record Holder
• Laris Gaiser, geopolitical analyst and expert of international relations

[edit] Sister cities

Ptuj is twinned with:

• - Varaždin, Croatia (2004)
• - Burghausen, Germany (2001)
• - Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia (2002)
• - Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, France (1998)
• - Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia (2006)
• - Aranđelovac, Serbia

[edit] Towns and villages in Ptuj municipality

• Grajena
• Grajenščak
• Kicar
• Krčevina pri Vurbergu
• Kidricevo
• Mestni Vrh
• Pacinje
• Podvinci
• Ptuj
• Spodnji Velovlek
• Spuhlja

[edit] Gallery

Ptuj Castle

The footbridge on the Drava, in Ptuj

A street in the center of Ptuj

[edit] References

This article incorporates information from the revision as of November 7, 2006 of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

• Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. July 31, 2005.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ptuj

• Municipal website (Slovene)
• Ptuj Tourism
• Ptuj TV portal (Slovene)
• Radio Tednik Ptuj (Slovene)

Coordinates: 46°25′N 15°52′E / 46.417°N 15.867°E / 46.417; 15.867