A stroll trough this museum town leaves one with a sense of how rich the tapestry of Slovene history truly is. Originally a Roman settlement, Ptuj has had many masters trough the ages. The ancestors of the Slovenes first inhabited this area of Europe in the 6th century, but by 874 had fallen under German rule. After gaining a greater sense of national identity in the mid 19th century, Slovenia became a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867, a situation which lasted until the end of the First World War.

Ptuj is the cultural, administrative, economic, employment, educational, and traffic centre of the wider region. The city developed at the junction of Slovenske gorice, Dravsko polje, and Ptujsko polje and also covers the area of Haloze to the south.