Ljubljana: the back story

About Ljubljana: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ljubljana Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Ljubljana is small enough to cross on foot in half an hour, but its streets hold two thousand years of history, layered like the rings of a tree.

Emona

The Romans founded Emona here at the start of the first century AD, a walled town on a grid of streets on the left bank of the Ljubljanica. You can still walk along a stretch of its wall at Mirje and see the remains of houses in the Jakopič Garden and the Emona House.

The Habsburg centuries

The medieval town grew below the castle hill, and from the 14th century Ljubljana, known in German as Laibach, belonged to the Habsburgs, as the capital of the Duchy of Carniola. Baroque churches, palaces and fountains followed: the cathedral, the Town Hall and the Robba Fountain all date from the 18th century.

Few capitals are this small, this green or this easy to love.

The 1895 earthquake

On Easter Sunday 1895 an earthquake damaged much of the city. It was rebuilt in the fashionable Vienna Secession and Art Nouveau styles, which is why Miklošičeva and Prešeren Square are so elegant today.

Plečnik’s city

Between the two world wars, the architect Jože Plečnik reshaped the city: the Triple Bridge, the market colonnade, the National and University Library, the Cobblers’ Bridge and green promenades along the river. In 2021 his works in Ljubljana were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

A capital since 1991

Slovenia declared independence on 25 June 1991, and the next day the celebrations filled Republic Square. Since then Ljubljana has been a capital, joined the euro and the Schengen area, closed its centre to cars and was named European Green Capital in 2016.

Our advice: start at the castle for the overview, walk down to the river and the Triple Bridge, then follow the layers: the Roman wall at Mirje, the Baroque squares of the old town and Plečnik’s bridges and colonnades. Two days is enough to see the city well.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Ljubljana: the back story before you go.