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Ljubljana
Tromostovje and Prešeren Square
General Information
State Capital:	Ljubljana
Founded:	AD 15 (as Colonia Iulia Aemona)
Day:	23 April
Vehicle Registration:	LJ
Area code:	01
Homepage:	http://ljubljana.si
Coat of Arms
Ljubljana Coat of arms
Map: Ljubljana in Slovenia
Map of Slovenia (Ljubljana)
Politics
Mayor and governor	Zoran Janković
Governing Party	Lista Zorana Jankovića
Population
Population:	265,881 (2002)
Geography
Area:	275 km²
Location:	46°03' - 45°03' N 15°57' - 14°30' E

'' (IPA: ) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. The city of Ljubljana is the cultural, scientific, economic, political and administrative center of Slovenia. It is situated in central Slovenia, between the Alps and the Mediterranean. The city is divided into several quarters, formerly municipalities, the main ones being Šiška, Bežigrad, Vič, Moste, and Center, which also correspond to the main electoral constituencies of the city.
Its transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition underly its leading economic position. Ljubljana is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and all government ministries. It is also the seat of Parliament and the Office of the President of Slovenia.

Contents

Name

Geography and demographics

History

Architecture

Art and Music

Public transportation

Education

Famous natives

Sister cities

Trivia

See also

References

External links

Name

Linguists disagree as to where the name Ljubljana comes from. A close similarity to the Slovene word "ljubljena," or "beloved," is generally thought to be coincidental. Although the name could have evolved from the Latin term for a flooding river, ''alluviana'', some believe the source of the present-day name is Laburus, a deity from old Slavic mythology and supposed patron of the original settlement. Other linguists reconstruct an earlier ''Lablana'', rejecting both a Latin or Slavic source, but without settling on an etymology.^[1]
Laibach (), the German name for the city, derives from ''Laibach'' (and also possibly ''Laubach''), meaning "a lukewarm brook" in German; ''lai'' ("tepid") + ''bach'' ("brook"). Its Italian name ''Lubiana'' () is a hybrid rendering of the Latin and German versions. These names are important for historical reasons.
The use of the German name was forbidden in Slovenia after 1918 and became especially controversial during the Second World War. Nowadays most Germans use the term ''Ljubljana''. On the other hand, ''Laibach'' is still widely used especially in Austria and southern Germany, as well as by the German embassy in Ljubljana.

Geography and demographics

Ljubljana is located at 46.03°N, 14.30°E on the outfall of the river Ljubljanica into the Sava. It lies at an altitude of 298 metres AMSL. The temperature varies between 0°C in December and 21.9°C in July. Annual rainfall is 1350 millimetres (53.2 inches).
In 2002, the city had a population of 265,881.

History

The area had been populated since prehistory. The earliest known settlements, in the Bronze Age, consisted of wooden houses erected on stakes (palafites).
The Roman settlement Emona (full name: ''Colonia Iulia Aemona'') was erected in 15 AD by the XV Legio Apollinaris; in 452, Aemona was sacked and devastated by the Huns, led by Attila.
The first records mentioning Ljubljana date to 1144 (referred to by its German name ''Laibach'') and 1146 (by its Latin name, ''Luwigana'').

The settlement received town rights in 1220, and in 1335 came under Austrian Habsburg rule, lasting until 1918. During this time Ljubljana was the capital of the duchy of Carniola. Ljubljana also became the seat of a diocese in 1461 and developed into a Slovenian cultural centre during the late Middle Ages. Ljubljana experienced an earthquake in 1511.

The Habsburg rule was shortly interrupted by the Napoleonic wars, and between 1809 and 1813 Ljubljana was the capital of the French Illyrian provinces. In 1821 the city hosted the Congress of Laibach. In 1849 Ljubljana witnessed the first train arriving from Vienna and in 1857 Ljubljana was connected to Trieste. Once again an earthquake damaged large parts of the city in 1895 and the following reconstruction gave Ljubljana its new contemporary image.
With the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Ljubljana became the provincial seat of the Drava Banovina within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In April 1941 it was occupied by Italy and on February 23 1942 Italians completely encircled it with 32 km of barbed wire. In 1943 the Italian occupation changed to German. For the achievements during this time Josip Broz Tito awarded Ljubljana in 1955 with the title "Hero City" (not to be confused with the Soviet title of the same name).
After World War II it became the capital of the Yugoslav socialist republic of Slovenia. Ljubljana remained the capital city when Slovenia gained independence in 1991 after a ten day war against the Yugoslav National Army.
Timeline:
http://www.ljubljanafestival.si/en/ljubljana_castle/history/

Architecture

Ljubljana has a strong Austrian/Alpine feeling to it and the architecture underlines this impression. Ljubljana was devastated by earthquakes several times. After an earthquake in 1511, Ljubljana was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, and after an earthquake in 1895 severely damaged the city, the city was rebuilt in Neo-Classicist and Secession (Austrian Art Nouveau) styles. The city's Baroque architecture was mainly influenced by Italian Baroque architecture (for instance, the cathedral was designed by Andrea Pozzo in 1701, St. Ursula's church displays Palladian features, Francesco Robba designed a fountain). One of the main features of the city, the castle, which dates back to prehistory, is undergoing renovation. Large areas of the city built in the early 20th century feature the work of native architect Jože Plečnik, including several bridges.

Art and Music

The National Gallery (''Narodna galerija'') and the Museum of Modern Art (''Moderna galerija'') are both situated in Ljubljana, showing the greatest Slovenian artists. There is also a large counterculture centre on Metelkova Street, housed in a former Yugoslav military complex, comparable, roughly, to Berlin's Tacheles. Metelkova hosts films and lectures, as well as concerts of mainly alternative music.
There are a number of music festivals with mainly classical music and jazz such as the Ljubljana Summer Festival (''Ljubljanski poletni festival'') and Druga Godba, a world music festival. In the 1980s Ljubljana was the center of the Neue Slowenische Kunst movement, which included the musical group Laibach, and with which the theorist Slavoj Žižek was also associated.

Public transportation

Public transportation in Ljubljana is composed of city buses, operated by the city-owned company Ljubljanski potniški promet (LPP). There have been many discussions about implementing a light rail system on the streets again (the last tram in Ljubljana stopped operating in 1958) as the city is facing a huge amount of traffic during rush hour. There are also many taxis in Ljubljana, and in December 2006, a new funicular to the Ljubljana Castle was introduced.
The suburban area of Ljubljana is covered by an extensive network of suburban buses and trains.

Education

In 1693 the Scholar Society (''Academia operosorum Labacensis'') was established in Ljubljana. This fell into decline in 1801 but was a forerunner to the present Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts which opened in 1938. The city's only university, the University of Ljubljana, was established in 1919. The city is also home to one of the oldest philharmonics of Europe, the Philharmonic Society (''Academia Philharmonicorum''), established in 1701.

Famous natives

★ Maks Bajc (1919–1983), Actor

★ Andrej Bajuk (1942), Politician

★ Robert Blinc (1933), Physicist

★ Carlos, Duke of Madrid (1848–1909), Claimant to the Spanish throne

★ Aleš Debeljak (1961), Poet, essayist and sociologist

★ Mladen Dolar, Philosopher

★ Anastasius Grun (1806–1876), Austrian politician

★ Edvard Kardelj (1910–1979), Communist leader

★ Ivana Kobilca (1861–1926), Painter

★ Taja Kramberger (1970), Poet, essayist and anthropologist

★ Boris Kidrič (1912–1953), Communist leader

★ Josip Murn Aleksandrov (1879–1901), Poet

★ Radoslav Nesterovič (1976-), NBA basketball player

★ Anton Peterlin (1908–1993), Physicist

★ Jože Plečnik (1872–1957), Architect

★ Janez Potočnik (1958), European Commissioner

★ Fritz Pregl (1869–1930), Chemist, Nobel prize winner

★ Anton Rop (1960), Politician

★ Dimitrij Rupel (1946), Politician and writer

★ Janez Strnad (1934), Physicist and populariser of natural science

★ Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1641-1693), Scholar, Polymath, Member of the Royal Society

★ Milan Vidmar (1885–1962), Electrical engineer, chess player and philosopher

★ Egon Zakrajšek (1941–2002), Mathematician and computer scientist

★ Alenka Zupančič, Philosopher

★ Slavoj Žižek (1949), Sociologist and philosopher

Sister cities

★ - Athens, Greece, since 2000

★ - Belgrade, Serbia, since 2003

★ - Bratislava, Slovakia, since 1967

★ - Brussels, Belgium, since 2004

★ - Chemnitz, Germany, since 1966

★ - Chengdu, People's Republic of China, since 1981

★ - Cleveland, Ohio, United States

★ - Leverkusen, Germany, since 1979

★ - Moscow, Russia, since 2000

★ - Parma, Italy, since 1964

★ - Pesaro, Italy, since 1964

★ - Ploče, Croatia, since 1982

★ - Rijeka, Croatia, since 1979

★ - Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, since 2002

★ - Sousse, Tunisia, since 1969

★ - Tbilisi, Georgia, since 1977

★ - Vienna, Austria, since 1999

★ - Wiesbaden, Germany, since 1977

★ - Zagreb, Croatia, since 2001

★ - Pueblo, Colorado, United States, since 1991

Trivia

★ In 1888/89, Gustav Mahler was the director of the Ljubljana Philharmonic Society Orchestra.

★ In 1970, Ljubljana hosted the entire FIBA Basketball World Championships.

★ Ljubljana hosted the 2001 Bush-Putin Summit where the first-ever meeting of US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place.

★ Ljubljana hosted the 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad from 6-18 July 2006.

★ It also hosted the 2006 World Saxophone Congress from 5-9 July 2006.

★ It also hosted the IAESTE SID (Seminar of IAESTE Development) from 21-24 April 2005.

★ Ljubljana is the hometown of world-renowned Lacanian psychoanalyst and critical theorist Slavoj Žižek, who occasionally teaches at the University of Ljubljana.

★ Ljubljana is also home to the world's largest digital clock.

See also

★ University of Ljubljana

★ Ljubljana Castle

★ Prešeren Square

★ Tromostovje

★ Nama

References

1. Paliga, Sorin. ''Pre-Slavic place-names''. 2002.

External links

'General'

★ The Website of the City of Ljubljana (official)
'Travel'

★ on Wikitravel

★ Official tourist site

★ Ljubljana Brnik Airport
'Photos'

★ Europe on the Matrix: Ljubljana, Slovenia — Photographs and information.

★ Pictures of Ljubljana by night
'Maps'

★ Interactive map

★ Map with panoramatic views

★ Street map of Ljubljana, result of Ljubljana collaborative mapping project using OpenStreetMap

★ Interactive map of Ljubljana with marked spots of Jože Plečnik`s architecture.
'Miscellaneous'

★ Metelkova mesto

★ University of Ljubljana

★ The Ljubljana Blog — A blog about life and events in Ljubljana.

★ Ljubljana Life Magazine — Guide to Culture, Entertainment, and Expatriate Living in the Slovenian Capital

★ Botanic garden Ljubljana