Ljubljana :: prostorski atlas

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, where the Slovenian Parliament and the Palace of the President of the Republic of Slovenia are located. Despite being a small city, it has a diverse history. The characteristic of the city is the old town core - 'Old Ljubljana', through which flows the Ljubljanica River and many churches. Informal center of the city is Prešernov trg (square), which is connected with the "Old Town" with the famous triple bridge - 'Tromostovje'. On the castle hill above the city stands the Ljubljana castle with a viewing tower from which view of the city and its surroundings. The lungs of the city are park Tivoli, which offers a quick retreat from the city bustle and in the immediate vicinity of the Ljubljana Zoo. An important 'green' point of the city is also a small but famous Botanical Garden. Among the cultural halls of the city are museums and galleries. The architect Jože Plečnik gave a great impression to the present appearance of Ljubljana, with the world first connected by the railway station. The festive December is boasting of the wild events and vividly decorated city streets.

The city covers the area of 163.8 km2. It is situated in the Ljubljana Basin in Central Slovenia, on the junction of Alps and Gorenska region on the north, Dolenjska region on the south, Notranjska region with the karst area on the west, and Štajerska region on east. Ljubljana is located 390 km south of Munich, 260 km east of Venice, 360 km south-west of Vienna, and140 km west of Zagreb.

The main watercourses in Ljubljana are the Ljubljanica River, the Sava river, the Gradaščica, the Mali Graben, the Iška and the Iščica streams. From the Trnovo District to the Moste District, around Castle Hill, the Ljubljanica partly flows through the Gruber's Canal, built according to plans by Gabriel Gruber from 1772 until 1780. Next to the eastern border of the Ljubljana municipality, the rivers Ljubljanica, Sava, and Kamnišksa Bistrica flow together.The confluence is the lowest point of Ljubljana municipality, with an elevation of 262 m.

Through its history, Ljubljana has been struck by floods. The latest was in 2010. (check the virtual tour of Ljubljansko barje/marsh). Southern and western parts of the city are more flood-endangered than northern parts.The Gruber Canal has partly diminished the danger of floods in the Ljubljansko barje the largest marsh in Slovenia, south-west of the city.

The two major ponds in Ljubljana are Koseški bajer in the Šiška District and Tivolski bajer in the southern part of Tivoli City Park.

The city's architecture is a mix of styles. Large buildings have appeared around the city's edges, while Ljubljana's historic centre remains intact. Some of the oldest architecture dates to the Roman period, while Ljubljana's downtown got its outline in the Middle Ages. After the 1511 earthquake, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style following Italian, particularly Venetian, models.

After the earthquake in 1895, Ljubljana was again rebuilt, this time in the Vienna Secession style, which is juxtaposed against the earlier Baroque style buildings that remain. Large sectors built in the inter-war period often include a personal touch by the architects Jože Plečnik (check virtual tours of Plečnik virtual museum) and Ivan Vurnik.In the second half of the 20th century, parts of Ljubljana were redesigned by Edvard Ravnikar.

The central square in Ljubljana is Prešernov trg home to Frančiškanska cerkev (the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation ), which was built between 1646 and 1660 and then replaced an older Gothic church. It offers an early-Baroque central hall with one nave and two rows of lateral chapels. The Baroque main altar was executed by sculptor Italian Francesco Robba. Much of the original frescos were ruined by ceiling cracks caused by the Ljubljana earthquake in 1895. The new frescos were painted by the Slovene impressionist painter Matej Sternen.

Ljubljanski grad is a medieval castle with Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance architectural elements, located on the summit of Castle Hill, which dominates the veduta of city centre. The area surrounding the castle has been continuously inhabited since 1200 BC.The castle was built in the 12th century and was a residence of the Margraves, later the Dukes of Carniola. Its Viewing Tower dates to 1848; it was manned by a guard whose duty it was to fire cannons announcing fire or important visitors or events, a function the castle still holds. Cultural events and weddings also take place there nowadays. In 2006, a funicular linked the city centre to the castle.

Town Hall (Mestna hiša or Magistrat), located at Mestni trg, is the seat of city government. The original, Gothic building was completed in 1484. Between 1717 and 1719, the building underwent a Baroque renovation with a Venetian inspiration by architect Gregor Maček Sr.

Near Town Hall, at Mestni trg, stands a replica of the Baroque Robba Fountain. The original was moved into the National Gallery in 2006. The fountain is decorated with an obelisk; at the foot are three figures in white marble symbolising the three main rivers of Carniola. It is work of Francesco Robba, who designed other Baroque statues there.

The Cathedral (ljubljanska stolnica, stolnica sv. Nikolaja), serves the Archdiocese of Ljubljana. Easily noticable due to its green dome and twin towers, it is located at Ciril-Metodov trg, named for Christian saints Cyril and Methodius). The Diocese was set up in 1461.Between 1701 and 1706, Jesuit architect Andrea Pozzo designed the Baroque church with two side chapels shaped in the form of a Latin cross.The dome was built in the centre in 1841. The interior of the cathedral is decorated with Baroque frescos painted by Giulio Quaglio between 1703–1706 and 1721–1723.

Nebotičnik is a thirteen-story building that rises to a height of 70.35 m. It combines elements of Neoclassical and Art-Deco architecture. Predominantly a place of business, Nebotičnik is home to shops on the ground floor and first story, the sixth to ninth floors are private residences. The top three floors host a café, bar and observation deck. It was designed by Slovenian architect Vladimir Šubic. The building opened on 21st February 1933. At that time it was the tallest residential building in Europe.

Tivoli City Park (Mestni park Tivoli) is the largest park in then City. It was designed in 1813 by French engineer Jean Blanchard and now covers approximately 5 km2. The park was laid out during the French imperial administration of Ljubljana in 1813 and named after the 'Parisian Jardins de Tivoli'. Between 1921 and 1939, it was renovated by Slovene architect Jože Plečnik, who unveiled his statue of Napoleon in 1929 in Trg Republike and designed a broad central promenade, called the Jakopičevo sprehajališče after the leading Slovene impressionist painter Rihard Jakopič. Within the park, there are trees, flower gardens, several statues, and fountains. Several notable buildings stand in the park, among them Tivoli Castle, the National Museum of Contemporary History and the Tivoli Sports Hall. Tivoli–Rožnik Hill–Šiška Hill Landscape Park is located in the western part of the city.

Ljubljanski botanični vrt covers 2.40 ha next to the junction of the Gruber Canal and the Ljubljanica River, south of the old city nucleus. It is the central Slovenian botanical garden and the oldest cultural, scientific, and educational organisation in the country. It started operating under the leadership of Franc Hladnik in 1810. Of over 4,500 plant species and subspecies, roughly a third is endemic to Slovenia, whereas the rest originate from other European places and other continents. The institution is a member of the international network Botanic Gardens Conservation International and cooperates with more than 270 botanical gardens all across the world.

Ljubljana's best-known bridges, listed from northern to southern ones, include the Dragon Bridge (Zmajski most), the Butchers' Bridge (Mesarski most), the Triple Bridge (Tromostovje), the Fish Footbridge (Ribja brv), the Cobblers' Bridge (Šuštarski most), the Hradecky Bridge (Hradeckega most), and the Trnovo Bridge (Trnovski most). The last mentioned crosses the Gradaščica, whereas all other bridges cross the Ljubljanica River.

The Stožice Stadium, opened since August 2010 and located in Stožice Sports Park in the Bežigrad District, is the biggest football stadium in the country and the home of the NK Olimpija Ljubljana. It is one of the two main venues of the Slovenia national football team. The park also has an indoor arena, used for indoor sports such as basketball, handball and volleyball and is the home venue of KK Olimpija, RK Krim and ACH Volley Bled among others. Beside football, the stadium is designed to host cultural events as well. Another stadium in the Bežigrad district, Bežigrad Stadium, is closed since 2008 and is deteriorating. It was built according to the plans of Jože Plečnik and was the home of the NK Olimpija Ljubljana, dissolved in 2004.

Šiška Sports Park is located in Spodnja Šiška, part of the Šiška District. It has a football stadium with five courts, an athletic hall, outdoor athletic areas, tennis courts, a Boules court, and a sand volleyball court. The majority of competitions are in athletics. Another sports park in Spodnja Šiška is Ilirija Sports Park, known primarily for its stadium with a speedway track. At the northern end of Tivoli Park stands the Ilirija Swimming Pool Complex, which was built as part of a swimming and athletics venue following plans by Bloudek in the 1930s and has been nearly abandoned since then, but there are plans to renovate it.

A number of sport venues are located in Tivoli Park. An outdoor swimming pool in Tivoli, constructed by Bloudek in 1929, was the first Olympic-size swimming pool in Yugoslavia. The Tivoli Recreational Centre in Tivoli is Ljubljana's largest recreational centre and has three swimming pools, saunas, a Boules court, a health club, and other facilities. There are two skating rinks, a basketball court, a winter ice rink, and ten tennis courts in its outdoor area. The Tivoli Hall consists of two halls. The smaller one accepts 4,050 spectators and is used for basketball matches. The larger one can accommodate 6,000 spectators and is primarily used for hockey, but also for basketball matches. The halls are also used for concerts and other cultural events. The Slovenian Olympic Committee has its office in the building.

The Tacen Whitewater Course, located on a course on the Sava, 8 km (5 mi) northwest of the city centre, hosts a major international canoe/kayak slalom competition almost every year, examples being the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in 1955, 1991, and 2010.

In he year 1901 built Dragon Bridge, decorated with dragon statues on pedestals at four corners of the bridge has become a symbol of the city and is regarded as one of the most beautiful examples of a bridge made in Vienna Secession style. The bridge has a span of 33.34 m and its arch was at the time the third largest in Europe. It is protected as national heritage as a technical monument.

Decorated with mythological bronze sculptures, created by Jakov Brdar, from Ancient Greek mythology and Biblical stories, the Butchers' Bridge connects the Ljubljana Open Market area and the restaurants-filled Petkovšek Embankment (Petkovškovo nabrežje). It is also known as the love padlocks-decorated bridge in Ljubljana (check the virtual tour following the building etapes).

Tromostovje (The Triple Bridge) is decorated with stone balusters and stone lamps on all of the three bridges and leads to the terraces looking on the river and poplar trees. It occupies a central point on the east–west axis, connecting the Tivoli City Park with Rožnik Hill, on one side, and the Ljubljana Castle on the other, and the north–south axis through the city, represented by the river. It was enlarged in order to prevent the historically single bridge from being a bottleneck by adding two side pedestrian bridges to the middle one.

Ribja brv (the Fish Footbridge), which used to be wooden in 90-ies of 20th century but was rebuild in 2014 with a nowadays construction, offers a view of the neighbouring Triple Bridge to the north and the Cobbler's Bridge to the South. It is a transparent glass-made bridge, illuminated at night by in-built LEDs. From 1991 to 2014 the bridge was a wooden, while since its reconstruction in 2014, it is made of glass. It was planned already in 1895 by Max Fabiani to build a bridge on the location, in 1913 Alfred Keller planned a staircase, later Jože Plečnik incorporated both into his own plans which, however, were not realised.

In year 1930 was built Šuštarski most (Cobbler's bridge) which is another Plečnik's creation, connecting two major areas of medieval Ljubljana. It is decorated by two kinds of pillars, the Corinthian pillars which delineate the shape of the bridge itself and the Ionic pillars as lamp-bearers.

The Trnovo Bridge is the most prominent object of Plečnik's renovation of the banks of the Gradaščica. It is located in the front of the Trnovo Church to the south of the city centre. It connects the neighbourhoods of Krakovo and Trnovo, the oldest Ljubljana suburbs, known for their market gardens and cultural events. It was built between 1929 and 1932. It is distinguished by its width and two rows of birches that it bears, because it was meant to serve as a public space in front of the church. Each corner of the bridge is capped with a small pyramid, a signature motif of Plečnik's, whereas the mid-span features a pair of Art-Deco male sculptures. There is also a statue of Saint John the Baptist on the bridge, the patron of the Trnovo Church. It was designed by Nikolaj Pirnat.

The Hradecky Bridge is one of the first hinged bridges in the world, the first and the only preserved cast iron bridge in Slovenia, and one of its most highly valued technical achievements.

It has been situated on an extension of Hrenova ulica, between Krakovski nasip and the Grudnovo nabrežje embarkments, connecting the Trnovo District and the Prule neighbourhood in the Center District. The Hradecky Bridge was manufactured according to the plans of the senior engineer Johann Hermann from Vienna in the Auersperg iron foundry in Dvor near Žužemberk, and installed in Ljubljana in 1867, at the location of today's Šuštarski most

Having already existed in the 18th century, Ljubljana's central square, Prešernov trg modern appearance has developed since the end of the 19th century. After the 1895 earthquake, Max Fabiani designed the square as the hub of four streets and four banks, and in the 1980s Edvard Ravnikar proposed the circular design and the granite block pavement. A statue of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren with a muse stands in the middle of the square. The Prešeren Monument was created by Ivan Zajec in 1905, whereas the pedestal was designed by Max Fabiani. The square and surroundings have been closed to traffic since 1st September 2007.

Trg Republike is the largest square in Ljubljana. It was designed in the second half of the 20th century by architect Edvard Ravnikar.On 26th June 1991, the independence of Slovenia was declared here. The National Assembly Building (stavba Državnega zbora) is situated at its northern side, and Cankarjev dom building, the largest Slovenian cultural and congress centre, at the southern side of the square. At its eastern side stands the two-storey shopping centre building of Maximarket, also the work of Ravnikar.

Kongresni trg is one of the important centres of the city. It was built in 1821 for ceremonial purposes such as Congress of Ljubljana after which it was named. Since then it has been a centre for political ceremonies, demonstrations, and protests, such as the ceremony for the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, ceremony of the liberation of Belgrade, and protests against Yugoslav authority in 1988. The square also houses several important buildings, such as the University of Ljubljana Palace, Philharmonic Hall, Ursuline Church of the Holy Trinity, and the Slovene Society Building. Park Zvezda is located in the centre of the square. In 2010 and 2011, the square was renovated and is now mostly closed to road traffic on ground area, however, there are five floors for commercial purposes and a parking lot located underground.

Čopova ulica is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Ljubljana. The street is named after Matija Čop, an early 19th-century literary figure and close friend of the Slovene Romantic poet France Prešeren. It leads from the Main Post Office Slovenska cesta downward to Prešernov trg and is lined with bars and stores. It is a pedestrian zone and regarded as the capital's central promenade.

During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the area. Ljubljana itself was first mentioned in the first half of the 12th century. Situated at the middle of a trade route between the northern Adriatic Sea and the Danube region, it was the historical capital of Kranjska (Carniola), one of the Slovene-inhabited parts of the Habsburg monarchy. It was under Habsburg rule from the Middle Ages until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. After World War II, Ljubljana became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The city retained this status until Slovenia became independent in 1991 and Ljubljana became the capital of the newly formed state.

The origin of the name Ljubljana is unclear. In the Middle Ages, both the river and the town were also known by the German name Laibach. This name was in official use as an endonym until 1918, and it remains frequent as a German exonym, both in common speech and official use. The city is called Lubiana in Italian and Labacum in Latin. The earliest attestation of the German name is from 1144 and the earliest attestation of the Slovenian form is 1146. The Greek form of the latter, Λυπλιανές (Lyplianes), is attested in a 10th-century source, the Life of Gregentios, which locates it in the country of the Avars in the 6th century.

For most scholars, a problem has been in how to connect the Slovene and the German names. The origin from the Slavic ljub- "to love, like" was in 2007 supported as the most probable by the linguist Tijmen Pronk, a specialist in comparative Indo-European linguistics and Slovene dialectology, from the University of Leiden. He supported the thesis that the name of the river derived from that of the settlement. Linguist Silvo Torkar, who specialises in Slovene personal and place names, argued that the name Ljubljana derives from Ljubija, the original name of the Ljubljanica River flowing through it, itself derived from the Old Slavic male name Ljubovid, "the one of a lovely appearance". The name Laibach, he claimed, was actually a hybrid of German and Slovene and derived from the same personal name.

The city's symbol is the Ljubljana Dragon. It is depicted on the top of the tower of Ljubljana Castle in the Ljubljana coat of arms and on the Ljubljanica-crossing Dragon Bridge (Zmajski most).

Several explanations describe the origin of the Ljubljana Dragon. According to a Slavic myth, the slaying of a dragon releases the waters and ensures the fertility of the earth, and it is thought that the myth is tied to the Ljubljana Marsh, the expansive marshy area that periodically threatens Ljubljana with flooding. According to Greek legend, the Argonauts on their return home after having taken the Golden Fleece found a large lake surrounded by a marsh between the present-day towns of Vrhnika and Ljubljana. There Argonatut Jason struck down a monster. This monster evolved into the dragon that today is present in the city coat of arms and flag.

It is historically more believable that the dragon was adopted from Saint George, the patron of the Ljubljana Castle chapel built in the 15th century. In the legend of Saint George, the dragon represents the old ancestral paganism overcome by Christianity. According to another explanation, related to the second, the dragon was at first only a decoration above the city coat of arms. In the Baroque, it became part of the coat of arms, and in the 19th and especially the 20th century, it outstripped the tower and other elements in importance.

Around 2000 BC, the Ljubljana Marsh was settled by people living in pile dwellings. Prehistoric pile dwellings and the oldest so far known wooden wheel in the world are among the most notable archeological findings from the marshland. These lake-dwelling people survived through hunting, fishing and primitive agriculture. To get around the marshes, they used dugout canoes made by cutting out the inside of tree trunks. Their archaeological remains, nowadays in the Municipality of Ig, have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site since June 2011, in the common nomination of six Alpine states.

Later, the area remained a transit point, for groups including the Illyrians, followed by a mixed nation of the Celts and the Illyrians called the Iapydes, and then in the 3rd century BC a Celtic tribe, the Taurisci.

Around 50 BC, the Romans built a military encampment that later became a permanent settlement called Iulia Aemona. This entrenched fort was occupied by the Legio XV Apollinaris. In 452, it was destroyed by the Huns under Attila's orders, and later by the Ostrogoths and the Lombards.

Emona housed 5,000 to 6,000 inhabitants and played an important role during battles. Its plastered brick houses, painted in different colours, were connected to a drainage system.

In the 6th century, small groups and tribes of Slavs returned to present territory of Slovenia and joined the remained people. In the 9th century, they fell under Frankish domination, while experiencing frequent Magyar raids. Not much is known about the area during the re-settlement of Slavs in the period between the downfall of Emona and the Early Middle Ages.

The parchment sheet Nomina defunctorum ("Names of the Dead"), most probably written in the second half of 1161, mentions the nobleman Rudolf of Tarcento, a lawyer of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, who had bestowed a canon with 20 farmsteads beside the castle of Ljubljana (castrum Leibach) to the Patriarchate. According to the historian Peter Štih's deduction, this happened between 1112 and 1125, the earliest mention of Ljubljana.

The property of the teritorry changed hands repeatedly until the first half of the 12th century. The territory south of the Sava where Ljubljana developed, gradually became property of the Carinthian Dukes of the House of Sponheim. Urban settlement started in the second half of the 12th century.

At around 1200, market trade rights were granted to Stari trg, which at the time was one of Ljubljana's three original districts. The other two districts were an area called Mesto, built around the predecessor of the present-day Ljubljana Cathedral at one side of the Ljubljanica River, and Novi trg at the other side.

Frančiškanski most (bridge), a predecessor of the present-day Tromostovje (Triple Bridge), and the Mesarski most connected the walled areas with wooden buildings. Ljubljana acquired the town privileges at some time between 1220 and 1243. Seven fires erupted during the Middle Ages. Artisans organised themselves into guilds. The Teutonic Knights, the Conventual Franciscans, and the Franciscans settled there. In 1256, when the Carinthian duke Ulrich III of Spanheim became lord of Carniola, the provincial capital was moved from Kamnik, situated 20 km northern (check virtual tour of Kamnik) to Ljubljana.

In the late 1270s, Ljubljana was conquered by King Ottokar II of Bohemia. In 1278, after Ottokar's defeat, it became, together with the rest of Carniola property of Rudolph of Habsburg. It was administered by the Counts of Gorizia from 1279 until 1335, when it became the capital town of Carniola. Renamed Laibach, it was owned by the House of Habsburg until 1797. In 1327, the Ljubljana's "Jewish Quarter", nowadays Židovska ulica, was established with a synagogue, and lasted until Emperor Maximilian I. in 1515 succumbed to medieval antisemitism and expelled Jews from Ljubljana, for which he demanded a certain payment from the town. In 1382, in front of St. Bartholomew's Church in Šiška, at the time a nearby village, now part of Ljubljana, a peace treaty was signed between the Republic of Venice and Leopold III of Habsburg.

In the 15th century, Ljubljana became recognised for its art, particularly painting and sculpture. The Roman Rite Catholic Diocese of Ljubljana was established in 1461 and the Church of St. Nicholas became the diocesan cathedral. After the 1511 Idrija earthquake, the city was rebuilt in the Renaissance style and a new wall was built around it. Wooden buildings were forbidden after a large fire at Novi Trg in 1524.

In the 16th century, the population of Ljubljana numbered 5,000, 70% of whom spoke Slovene as their first language, with most of the rest using German. The first secondary school, public library and printing house opened in Ljubljana. Ljubljana became an important educational centre.

From 1529, Ljubljana had an active Slovene Protestant community. They were expelled in 1598, marking the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. Catholic Bishop Thomas Chrön ordered the public burning of eight cartloads of Protestant books.

In 1597, the Chrisitan „warrior“ monks Jesuits arrived, followed in 1606 by the Capuchins, seeking to eradicate Protestantism. Only 5% of all the residents of Ljubljana at the time were Catholic, but eventually they re-Catholicized the town. The Jesuits staged the first theatre productions, fostered the development of Baroque music, and established Catholic schools. In the middle and the second half of the 17th century, foreign architects built and renovated monasteries, churches, and palaces and introduced Baroque architecture. In 1702, the Ursulines settled in the town, and the following year they opened the first public school for girls in the Slovene Lands. Some years later, the construction of the Ursuline Church of the Holy Trinity started. In 1779, St. Christopher's Cemetery replaced the cemetery at St. Peter's Church as Ljubljana's main cemetery.

From 1809 to 1813, during the "Napoleonic occupation", Ljubljana was the capital of the Illyrian Provinces. In 1813, the city returned to Austria and from 1815 to 1849 was the administrative centre of the Kingdom of Illyria in the Austrian Empire. In 1821, it hosted the Congress of Laibach, which fixed European political borders for that period. The first train arrived in 1849 from Vienna and in 1857 the line extended to Trieste.

In 1895 Ljubljana, then a city of 31,000, suffered a serious earthquake measuring 6.1 Richter and 8–9 degrees MCS. Some 10% of its 1,400 buildings were destroyed, although casualties were light. During the subsequent reconstruction, some districts were rebuilt in the Vienna Secession style. Public electric lighting arrived in 1898. The rebuilding period between 1896 and 1910 is referred to as the "revival of Ljubljana" because of architectural changes that defined the city and for reform of urban administration, health, education and tourism. The rebuilding and quick modernisation of the city were led by the mayor Ivan Hribar.

In 1918, following the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the region joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929, Ljubljana became the capital of the Dravska Banovina, a Yugoslav province.

In 1941, during World War II, Fascist Italy occupied the city, and then on 3 May 1941 made Lubiana the capital of Italy's Province of Ljubljana with former Yugoslav general Leon Rupnik as mayor. After the Italian capitulation, Nazi Germany with SS-general Erwin Rösener and Friedrich Rainer took control in 1943, but formally the city remained the capital of an Italian province until 9 May 1945. In Ljubljana, the Axis forces established strongholds and command centres of Quisling organisations, the Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia under Italy and the Home Guard under German control. Starting in February 1942, the city was surrounded by barbed wire, later fortified by bunkers, to prevent co-operation between the resistance movements that operated inside and outside the fence. Each year since 1957, on 8–10 May, the recreational Walk Along the Wire has taken place to mark the liberation of Ljubljana on 9 May 1945. At the same occasion, a triples competition is run on the trail, and a few days later, a student run from Prešeren Square to Ljubljana Castle is held. The last Sunday in October, the Ljubljana Marathon and a few minor competition runs take place on the city streets. The event attracts several thousand runners each year.

After World War II, Ljubljana became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It retained this status until Slovene independence in 1991, since then Ljubljana is the capital of independent Slovenia, which joined the European Union in 2004. In 2010, Ljubljana was declared the world book capital, among other things, a new stadium and a hall were built in the Stožice Sports Park. Numerous interventions, the arrangement of new pedestrian paths and green areas helped Ljubljana to be declared the green capital of Europe in 2016.

In 2021, the organization European Best Destinations declared Ljubljana the greenest city in Europe.

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