Glavni trg (Main Square)

Maribor's baroque main square with plague column and the town hall

The main square of Maribor — Glavni trg — is one of the better public squares in Slovenia, not vast but well proportioned, with enough variety in the surrounding architecture to keep it interesting. The ensemble includes the Renaissance Town Hall (Rotovž), a row of Baroque burgher houses, and the plague column at the centre, which dates from 1743 and is decorated with saints' figures in gilded stone.

The Town Hall façade has been altered many times but retains a Gothic tower and a handsome Renaissance loggia on the ground floor. The square is pedestrianised and in summer fills with café tables. It is the natural starting point for any walk through the old town. From here, narrow lanes lead north towards the castle and south towards the Drava riverside and the Lent promenade.

things to do sight
A story
The Plague Column was erected in 1743 by citizens grateful for the end of an epidemic that had killed roughly a third of Maribor's population. The column bears figures of saints associated with plague intercession — Sebastian, Roch, Francis Xavier, and Charles Borromeo — along with an inscription that is unexpectedly specific about the death toll. This kind of precise accounting of catastrophe is unusual in public monuments.