Maribor

City

Maribor's Old Town along the Drava River

Flag

Coat of arms

Maribor

Location of the City of Maribor in Slovenia

Coordinates: 46°33′27.4″N 15°38′43.8″E / 46.557611°N 15.645500°ECoordinates: 46°33′27.4″N 15°38′43.8″E / 46.557611°N 15.645500°E

Country

Slovenia

Municipality

City Municipality of Maribor

Government

• Mayor

Andrej Fištravec

Area

• Total

41 km² (16 sq mi)

Elevation

262 m (860 ft)

Population (2015)

• Total

95,881

• Density

2,340/km² (6,100/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+01)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+02)

Post code

2000

Area code(s)

Website

www.maribor.si

Maribor (pronounced [ˈmaːɾibɔɾ], German: Marburg an der Drau; Bavarian: Marburg an da Drau) is the second-largest city in Slovenia with about 96,000 inhabitants in 2015. It is also the largest city of the traditional region of Lower Styria and the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor.

Maribor was attested in historical sources as Marpurch circa 1145 (and later as Marchburch, Marburc, and Marchpurch), and is a compound of Middle High German march 'march (borderland)' + burc 'fortress'. In modern times, the town's German name was Marburg an der Drau (literally, 'Marburg on the Drava'). The Slovene name Maribor is an artificial Slovenized creation, coined by Stanko Vraz in 1836. Vraz created the name in the spirit of Illyrianism by analogy with the name Brandenburg (cf. Lower Sorbian Bramborska). Locally, the town is known in Slovene as Marprk or Marprog. In addition to its Slovene and German names, the city is also known as Marburgum in Latin and Marburgo in Italian.

In 1164, a castle known as Castrum Marchburch ("March Castle") was documented in the March of Drava. The castle was originally built on Piramida Hill, which is located just above the city. Maribor was first mentioned as a market near the castle in 1204, and received town privileges in 1254. It began to grow rapidly after the victory of Rudolf I of the Habsburg dynasty over King Otakar II of Bohemia in 1278. Maribor withstood sieges by Matthias Corvinus in 1480/1481 and by the Ottoman Empire in 1532 and 1683.

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Wikipedia