Ljutomer is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in northeastern Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, some 40 km east of Maribor

Maribor

Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....

. Traditionally it was part of the region of Styria

Lower Styria

Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...

. It is now included in the Pomurska statistical region

Pomurska statistical region

The Mura statistical region is a statistical region in the north-east of Slovenia. It is predominantly agricultural with field crops representing over three quarters of the total utilised agricultural area, twice as much as the Slovene average...

.

The Ljutomer area was the birthplace of the ethnologist

Ethnology

Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...

 and Romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 poet Stanko Vraz

Stanko Vraz

Stanko Vraz was a Croatian-Slovenian poet. He Slavicized his name to Stanko Vraz in 1836.-Biography:...

 (1810–1851), linguist Franc Miklošič

Franc Miklošic

Fran Miklošič , was a Slovene philologist.-Biography:Miklošič was born in the small village of Radomerščak near the Lower Styrian town of Ljutomer, then part of the Austrian Empire....

 (1813–1891), pioneer of film making Karol Grossmann (1864–1929), painter Ante Trstenjak

Ante Trstenjak

Ante Trstenjak was a Slovenian, psychologist, painter and illustrator. He used mostly watercolour and oils. The art gallery in Ljutomer is named after him. He was born in Slamnjak.- References :...

 (1894–1970).

The economy of Ljutomer largely is based around grape farming and wine making.

History

Ljutomer lies at the heart of the Prlekija

Prlekija

Prlekija is a region in northeastern Slovenia between the Drava and Mura rivers. It comprises the eastern part of the Slovenian Hills , stretching from the border with Austria to the border with Croatia. It is part of the traditional province of Lower Styria. Together with the traditional province...

 county. It is first mentioned as a settlement in written documents dating back to year 1242. In 1265 it was granted market right. It was devastated by the plague and numerous fires and it also had to defend itself against Ottoman

Ottoman wars in Europe

The wars of the Ottoman Empire in Europe are also sometimes referred to as the Ottoman Wars or as Turkish Wars, particularly in older, European texts.- Rise :...

 and Hungarian raids. The first mass rally (tabor) in support of a United Slovenia

United Slovenia

United Slovenia is the name of an unrealized political programme of the Slovene national movement, formulated during the Spring of Nations in 1848...

 took place in Ljutomer in 1868. Nevertheless, before 1918, the town had a substantial German minority (opulation data for 1880 gives: 608 Slovenes and 468 Germans), while the surroundings were almost exclusively Slovene-speaking. Ljutomer was given town status in 1927. The tradition of the Slovenian national awakening of the 19th century is continued by the town library, town museum and the art gallery.

Architecture

There are three main squares in the city centre, each boasting its own shrine;

• On Stari trg square there is a small chapel
  Chapel
  A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
  
   dedicated to Saint Anne
  Saint Anne
  Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
  
  . It was built in 1756 and remodelled in 1853 with wall paintings of Saint Anthony
  Anthony of Padua
  Anthony of Padua or Anthony of Lisbon, O.F.M., was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. Though he died in Padua, Italy, he was born to a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal, which is where he was raised...
  
   and Saint Florian
  Saint Florian
  Florian lived in the time of the Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximian, and was commander of the imperial army in the Roman province of Noricum. In addition to his military duties, he was also responsible for organizing firefighting brigades....
  
   on the side walls.

• On Glavni trg square the monumental shrine is dedicated to Mary and apart from the virgin on the top of the column, bears statues of Saint Roch
  Roch
  Saint Roch or Rocco ; lived c.1348 - 15/16 August 1376/79 was a Christian saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August; he is specially invoked against the plague...
  
   and Saint Sebastian at its base. It was erected in 1729 by the then mayor
  Mayor
  In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
  
   Matjaž Petek. It was renovated in 1854.

• On Miklošičev trg square is a small chapel dedicated to Saint Florian. It was built in 1736 as part of the church walled enclosure.

The parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 in the town is dedicated to John the Baptist

John the Baptist

John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...

. It is an originally Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 building which was adapted in the late 17th century to a tripple nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

d Baroque

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

building with a walled enclosure.

External links

• Ljutomer Municipality on Geopedia
• Ljutomer Municipality site