Understand
Ptuj is one of the oldest town in Slovenia, with settlement dating back 2000 years. Its history reaches back to the Stone Age, but the city experienced its greatest flowering in the Roman period. The name originates in the times of Emperor Trajan, who granted the settlement city status and named it Colonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovio. Roman Poetovio developed into an important military, commercial, customs and administrative center. Forty thousand people lived in the Ptuj area in this period, a number never since reached. It was later burned by the Huns and occupied by the Avars and the Slavs. In the period of the Slav prince Pribina, it was incorporated into the Frankish state. Later, it became the property of the Salzburg archdiocese and experienced the Hungarian attacks. The city recovered and when city rights were granted, it was able to build a wall around the city. The first city statutes from 1376 provided the legal regulation of the city and contributed to its economic power. Sadly, this declined under the pressure of Turkish attacks and major fires, floods, and epidemics.
Today, it is an important center of the lower Podravje region of Slovenia. It is a city of fairs, wine cellars and thermal springs.
