Maribor Castle sits on the northern edge of the old town, a largely 16th-century building on medieval foundations that now houses the Regional Museum of Maribor. The building is a mixed bag architecturally — added to and altered over many centuries — but the courtyard arcade is genuinely handsome, and the museum inside gives good context for the town's history as a Habsburg frontier fortress.
The collection covers the region's history from prehistoric times through the 20th century. Among the highlights are a room devoted to local folk costumes and a section on the German-speaking community that dominated Maribor (then called Marburg an der Drau) until the end of World War II. There is also material on the partisan resistance and the postwar transition to Yugoslavia. The museum is not glamorous but it is well organised and the castle buildings alone are worth a look.