Mestni trg

A little more about Ljubljana.

Now we know it's the capital city of Slovenia. We should also know that this is not a crowded country. In fact, estimated population is a little bit over 2 million persons for Slovenia, and over a quarter million of them live in Ljubljana. Counting also that the biggest university (University of Ljubljana) is in town, the approximately 60.000 students enrolled on it help to bring the average age of the city inhabitants to one of the youngest ones in Europe. Facts translated: lots of bars and night entertainment for young people can be found easily.

But lets focus on the picture. I took it in Mestni trg, which is the old center of Ljubljana. In front, you can see the Fountain, which is a brand new duplicate of the original one, and behind it it's possible to see the towers of the main Cathedral.

This is what the official site of Ljubljana has to say about Mestni trg:

"Since the 12th century, the Mestni trg square (Town Square) was one of the centres of medieval Ljubljana. A large number of medieval buildings destroyed in the earthquake of 1511 were replaced by Renaissance and later Baroque buildings, which still give a special character to the square. The best known among them is the Town Hall building (Magistrat) with the famous Fountain of the Three Carniolan Rivers in front of it, built by Francesco Robba between 1743 and 1751. The Town Hall complex also includes the flanking buildings, which were purchased by the municipal government in the 17th and 18th centuries. The building located at 2 Mestni trg square used to belong to the distinguished Dolničar family. Its façade was redesigned around the year 1780.

Giving a special character to the Mestni trg square are also a whole range of other buildings, including Haman House (Hamanova hiša), which presently houses the Municipal Gallery (Mestna galerija), Lichtenberg House (Lichtenbergova hiša) with a façade which was in 1540 decorated with reliefs by the sculptor Osbalt Kittl and a staircase dating from the 18th century, Skoberne House (Skobernetova hiša) with a façade dating from the same period, Rakovec and Obrez Houses, which were built by architect Matija Persky, and, the highest of all the buildings in the square, Souvan House with an Empire style façade. The reliefs decorating this façade, which was designed by Francesco Coconi in the 17th century, represent art, trade and agriculture."

This is the exact location of Mestni trg on the map: