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Ptuj

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Mestna občina Ptuj

Area:

66.7 km²

Population
- males
- females

23,242
11,203
12,039

Average age:

36.65 years

Residential areas:
- households:
- families:

29.94 m²/person
8,303
6,780

Working active:
- unemployed:

11,590
2,168

Average monthly salary (August 2003):
- gross:
- net:

224,448 SIT
144,142 SIT

College/university students:

898

Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, census of 2002.

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 20,000 inhabitants.

It is a colorful and well-organized city with a diverse nightlife. There are many parks and public spaces inside and outside of the city.

1 History
2 Notable residents
3 Sister cities
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Ptuj is one of the oldest cities in Slovenia. It dates back to the Stone Age and was settled by Celts by the Late Iron Age.<ref name="tourism">PtujTourism.si. "The History of Ptuj". Accessed November 8 2006.</ref> 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 inhabitaunts until it was plundered by the Huns in 450.<ref name="tourism"/>

In 570 the city was occupied by Eurasian Avars and Slavic tribes.<ref name="tourism"/> Ptuj became part of the Frankish Empire.<ref name="tourism"/> after the fall of Avar state at the end of 8th century. Between 840 and 874 it belonged to the Slavic princes Pribina and Koceľ. Between 874 and 890 Ptuj gradually came under the influence of the Archbishopric of Salzburg;<ref name="tourism"/> town privileges passed in 1376 began an economic upswing for the settlement. Ptuj was incorporated into the Duchy of Styria in 1555.<ref name="tourism"/>

Ptuj was a battleground during the Ottoman wars in Europe and suffered from fires in 1684, 1705, 1710, and 1744.<ref name="tourism"/> Ptuj's 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 Maribor (Marburg) instead.

After the collapse of Austria-Hungary resulting from World War I, Ptuj was included in the brief Republic of German Austria. It was then made part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) without plebiscite. According to the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, Ptuj's Old Town had a population of 86% Germans. During the interwar period, this population decreased through the Slavicisation policies of the Yugoslav government. Already before 1919, the population of the surrounding villages predominantly spoke Slovenian.

Ptuj was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. From 1941-1944 the city's Slovenian population was dispossessed and deported. Their homes were taken over by Germans from South Tyrol and Kočevje (Gottschee), who had themselves been evicted according to an agreement between Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. These German immigrants, along with the native German Pettauer, were expelled to Austria after the war's end; many continued on to North America.

Since 1945 Ptuj has been populated almost completely by Slovenians.