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. According to the 1997 figures, the City Municipality of Ptuj has 32,043 residents and covers about 118 km2. It lies 232 meters above sea level and has an average temperature of 9× C and an annual average precipitation of 890 mm. After World War II, the city developed from a small rural town, and with its growth individual areas of the city took shape such as the old city centre where extensive renovations have been made, new parts of the city with apartment buildings and individual residences, industrial areas, and so forth. Because of their historical significance, many buildings in Ptuj are protected as monuments. Near the city, the largest reservoir in Slovenia has been formed by a dam on the Drava River.

The strategic location of the castle hill attracted settlers as early as the latter half of the third millennium BC. Later, the inhabitants of Roman Poetovio built a fortress and temple on top of the hill, and in the Early Middle Ages there existed a large burial place. Work on the medieval fortress began in the 11th century, when both town and castle were the property of the Archbishops of Salzburg. The Archbishops rented the castle to the lords of Ptuj, nobles who had won fame fighting the Hungarians. During the three-hundred years that they lived in Ptuj, the lords also left their mark as founders of the Minorite and Dominican monasteries, and as the builders of the pilgrimage church on Ptujska Gora. The tombstone of the last lord of Ptuj, Friedrich IX, was built into the castle's ground floor. From 1656 to 1802 the castle was inhabited by the Leslies. The last owners, the Counts of Herberstein, occupied the castle from 1873 to 1945 when it became nationalised and, together with its rich furnishings, incorporated into the Ptuj Museum. In the Middle Ages the castle was divided into two sections:

On top of the hill were the living quarters, outbuildings and one or two towers, while the western, flat area was reserved for military buildings; among them a tower at the westernmost end which is the oldest preserved structure of the castle, dated to the 11th century. The central building was erected in the 12th and 14th centuries. In the 16th century the castle and town were fortified against Turkish incursions by Italian builders, who thoroughly altered the appearance of the castle. They added a Renaissance stairway and arcaded the courtyard. In the 17th century the castle was enlarged and rebuilt Baroque-style. In the eastern section of the castle hill, stables and the eastern tower were erected. In the 18th century an administrative building was added along the southern wall, a huge granary built in the western flat area - alongside the "tournament area", and an estate was erected at the northern foot of the castle hill. .

Numerous archaeological remains prove that the city experienced its first period of prosperity as the Roman town of Poetovio. The present much admired appearance of the city originated during the Middle Ages when Ptuj experienced its second rise to wealth and prominence. The castle, the Dominican and Minorite monasteries, the Provost Church, the old City Hall, the patrician houses, numerous marvellously carved doors, wrought iron window grills, and stonecutting details are the most important elements testifying to the spiritually and materially rich life of our forefathers in this region. The heritage of past centuries will enchant even the most demanding visitor to Ptuj, the oldest city in Slovenia.

A glance inside the museum, galleries, libraries, archives, theatre, and the National Center reveals many centuries of cultural heritage linked to modern life. The old compositions, the new art studios, and the theatre performances that take place in the unique ambience of cloisters, courtyards, loggias, and cobblestone streets-all these offer us an interesting fragment of the life in our city. But Ptuj is not merely a city with stories from the past. Maybe it is true that the most beautiful pictures of Ptuj were already painted and the most remarkable houses already built, but many important creators also gathered in Ptuj in the 20th century to contribute to the new appearance of the city.

In 1830 the Ptuj curate Simon Povoden had Roman stone monuments built into the base of the town's tower, thus creating the oldest, open-air museum in Slovenia. To the locals it was known as the "sub divo" (open-air) museum, but in honour of its founder it is now called the Povoden Musem. In 1893 the members of the Tourist Society of Ptuj founded a Museum Society. Their intention was to prevent the transfer of valuable excavated archaeological material from Ptuj to Graz or Vienna. The first collection, in the premises of the grammar school in present-day Prešernova Street, originally comprised only archaeological objects; but in 1895 Professor Franz Ferk donated an extensive private collection, consisting of museum objects of various types. As a result of this valuable donation, the museum was renamed the Municipal Ferk Museum. In 1899 and 1914, the sites of Mithras Shrine I in Spodnja Hajdina and Mithras Shrine III in Zgornji Breg, respectively, were arranged for presentation. By 1987 archaeologists had discovered evidence of five Mithras Shrines; however Mithras Shrines I and III are still the favourites with visitors. The museum's collections were cramped in the grammar school, so in 1926 the municipality bought the former Dominican monastery which had been dissolved by Joseph II' s reforms (in 1786). The premises were renovated and two years later they were occupied by the museum's collections. In 1945 the museum was entrusted with the management of the castle complex of buildings, in which the furnishings of the last owners - the Herbersteins - had been preserved almost completely. The library and archives became independent institutions in 1954 and 1955 respectively, while the museum extended the geographical scope of its activities and was renamed the Regional Museum Ptuj in 1963. Today the museum covers the wider area of Ptuj and Ormož.

In 1230 Mehtildis, the widow of Friedrich III of Ptuj, donated to the Dominicans - after obtaining the approval of the Archbishop of Salzburg - land on the western edge of Ptuj. One year later monks from Friesach (Carinthia) had already moved to the partly built monastery. The principal activities of the Dominicans in Ptuj were preaching, pastoral care, economic operations and education and they also had a rich library. The monks inhabited the monastery until 1785 when it was dissolved by the reforms of Joseph II; later, it was occupied by soldiers and craftsmen. In 1926 the monastery was bought by the municipality and renovated for the municipal museum and also for housing purposes. The renovation works discovered, both historically and artistically, the most interesting parts of the monastery. In the autumn of 1928 the newly arranged museum collections were opened to the public. Soon after the foundation of the monastery the eastern and southern wings of the cloister and the church were built, to which - in the mid-13th century - a new presbytery was added in the form of a long choir; one of the first in Central Europe. Since the monastery's foundation, the entrance wall of the Chapter Hall has been preserved.

The hall has two, two-light windows: the southern one is Romanesque and semicircular, the northern one Gothic and ogival. The eastern wall of the cloister was painted with sacral and grave motifs. Prominent among the paintings is a picture of Dominicans kneeling and praying in two rows in front of a large figure of Christ in the mandorla. The cloister, one of the main architectural highlights of the monastery, was vaulted in the first half of the 15th century. On the inside the ribbed vaults rest on richly carved corbels and meet in figural keystones in their apexes. Around 1700 the monastery's refectory was adorned with rich stucco ornaments and paintings. In the early 18th century the old, "long choir" was demolished, the high altar moved to the western end of the church, and its eastern facade decorated with rich stucco .

 

MITHRAS SHRINE I. IN SPODNJA HAJDINA

The oldest temple of Mithras in Rome's Danubian provinces was discovered in the western area of Roman Poetovio, which is in present-day Spodnja Hajdina. It was unearthed by the archaeologist Dr. Wilhelm Gurlitt in 1898/99 and a protective shed was erected over the temple immediately after its discovery. Votive inscriptions indicate that the temple was erected in the mid-2nd century by Illyrian customs officers who were based in Poetovio. The temple was partially dug into the soft slope and covered with a willow wattle structure. The temple is divided into an anteroom and a central area with three sections, of which the central one is lowered. In the western wall of the central area a niche is preserved, into which the main altar-piece was built. The central temple area contains 12 votive stones with inscriptions and reliefs depicting, among others, myths and attributes connected with the individual degrees of promotion of the dedicators. At the entrance to the central room stand two sacrificial altars, dedicated to Cautes and Cautopates, the deities of the East and West. The central lowered area has several sacrificial altars and on one of them is a full-size sculpture representing the birth of Mithras.

A youth's torso with a dagger in the left hand and a torch in the right, rises from a rock mass with a snake coiled around it, symbolising earth. The principal section of the temple is the pillared altar with a sculpture of a bull-slayer, dedicated to the transition (transitu). The statue of Mithras, in Persian dress and drawing a bull to be sacrificed, as well as the base with its dedication inscription are cut from a single stone block.

MITHRAS SHRINE IiI. IN ZGRONJI BREG

The biggest temple of Mithras was erected in the western area of Roman Poetovio (in what is today Zgornji Breg), in what was a densely built-up residential area in Roman times. It was discovered by Viktor Skrabar and dr. Mihovil Abramic in 1913. The discovery was preserved under a protective structure, erected in the following year, and financed by the voluntary contributions of the then Museum Society. The temple, built in the mid-3rd century, contains mainly sacrificial altars, with dedications of soldiers belonging to the XIII. Gemina and V. Macedonica legions under the command of Flavius Aprus. The temple consists of three sections, of which the central one is lowered. On the wall opposite the entrance is a fresco, a copy of the altar relief from the Mithras Shrine in Osterburken in Germany. The dedication stones show a variety of artistic representations and are full of symbols relating to the legend of Mithras. They are arranged in the lowered central area. On one of the memorials, two male figures appear on the front side, taking an oath over the fire on the sacrificial altar. To the right side of the memorial, Mithras is shown shooting an arrow of water from a rock - for the thirsty. On the left altar, the birth of Mithras from a rock is shown above the inscription. Beside Mithras, who holds a dagger in his left hand and a torch in his right, stand Cautes and Cautopates, while above Mithras the supreme god and the winged goddess of victory are depicted. On the opposite side stands a high altar with lions couchant at the top.

On the right side is the sun god, on the left a male figure with the horn of affluence in his right hand and a patera in his left. Beside the original furnishings of the temple, there is also a relief dedication stone to the August Nurses (Nutrices avgustae), a female bust of the goddess of fertility (Magna Mater), an altar-piece from the Mithras Shrine in Modric on the Pohorje, and a stone with a relief of Saxan - the patron saint of the stone masons from Šmartno na Pohorju.

ROMAN BRICKWORKS KILN

The eastern part of ancient Poetovio, nowadays a modern residential quarter, was the crafts quarter of the Roman town. In 1974 archaeologists discovered a Roman brickworks kiln, one of nine belonging to a major pottery workshop and brickworks. The kiln was first displayed at the site itself in 1982. It is brick-built and the vaults and bottom section of the kiln, as well as the covered fire pit, are preserved. The crafts quarter was discovered and researched by archaeologists in the 1970's and 80's and 90's. The quarter extended along the Aquileia-Savaria imperial road. To the north and south of the road, large buildings with living quarters and shops were discovered, as well as big workshops, drying sheds and courtyards. In the centre of the quarter were living quarters furnished with frescoes, stucco and mosaics and heated by hypocausts. Various workshops were unearthed in the quarter: those of stone-carvers, smiths, potters; and brickwork kilns for burning lime. Pottery workshops and brickworks prevailed among them.

The works were built close to a deposit of excellent clay and it was usual to join several kilns, sheds for drying the products, and wells. In the kilns (over 80 were discovered) various earthenware products were fired (paving stones, bricks, vessels and oil lamps), often marked with stamps of the craftsmen who had made them (AEMILIVS, CRESCE, OCTAVI, INV FIRM, CIA, CAS(siae), CRI(spinae), ...).

Slovenski trg (Slovene Square) in the centre of Ptuj, is the scene of an open air lapidary collection, the oldest in Slovenia. This collection was named after curate Simon Povoden who, in 1830, determined that collected classical stone memorials should be built into the inner walls of the municipal tower. Among them are pieces of civil and military tombstones, urns, sacrifice altars, relief votive slabs and ashlars. The northern wall of the tower contains, among others, the military tombstone of Gaius Rufius, a soldier of the XIII. Gemina legion, and that of Gaius Cornelius Verus, a veteran of the II. Adiutrix legion. A votive ashlar, devoted to the Eastern deity Serapis, was built into the corner of the wall. Six memorials were built into the southern wall of the tower. Among them are a sacrificial altar, dedicated to Jupiter and decorated at the top with a Norican-Pannonian volute, and the tombstone of Marcus Ulpius Cutius and his family. The inscription states the dimensions of the grave: 20 x 20 feet. Most memorials were built into the eastern inner walls and, also built within the walls, the stairway with a landing. To the right of the stairway is a relief slab showing a chair of honour - probably connected with some high civil servant. At the top of the stairway is a stone lion, beneath it is a vaulted lintel bearing inscriptions on both sides. To the left is a sacrificial altar dedicated to Mar(i)mogius, a war god, and to the right a sacrificial altar to the sun god. In the bottom section of the stairway is, among others, a slab with a relief of three men (Vicomagistri) performing a ritual sacrifice. Next to it is a large fragment of a 2nd century votive relief dedicated to the August Nurses (Nutrices avgustae). The bottom of the stairway is adorned with two ashlars. The right one shows a relief of the Genius of Autumn; the left one shows the Genius of Spring and Hora, the goddess of summer. To the Povoden Museum also belong the sacrificial altars, dedicated to Jupiter - the supreme god, which are arranged in niches within the northern wall of the church of St Jurij.

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