Ljubljana, Slovenia

🇸🇮 Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative centre.

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 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.

Economy Industry is the most important employer, notably in the pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and food processing. Other fields include banking, finance, transport, construction, skilled trades and services and tourism. The public sector provides jobs in education, culture, health care and local administration.

The Ljubljana Stock Exchange (Ljubljanska borza), purchased in 2008 by the Vienna Stock Exchange, deals with large Slovenian companies. Some of these have their headquarters in the capital: for example, the retail chain Mercator, the oil company Petrol d.d. and the telecommunications concern Telekom Slovenije. Over 15,000 enterprises operate in the city, most of them in the tertiary sector.

Numerous companies and over 450 shops are located in the BTC City, the largest business, shopping, recreational, entertainment and cultural centre in Slovenia. It is visited each year by 21 million people. It occupies an area of 475,000 m² (5,110,000 sq ft) in the Moste District in the eastern part of Ljubljana.

About 74% of Ljubljana households use district heating from the Ljubljana Power Station.

Education In 2011, the University had 23 faculties and three academies, located around Ljubljana. They offer Slovene-language courses in medicine, applied sciences, arts, law, administration, natural sciences, and other subjects. The university has more than 63,000 students and some 4,000 teaching faculty. Students make up one-seventh of Ljubljana's population, giving the city a youthful character.

Historically, higher schools offering the study of general medicine, surgery, architecture, law and theology, started to operate in Ljubljana under the French annexation of Slovene territory, in 1810–1811. The Austro-Hungarian Empire never allowed Slovenes to establish their own university in Ljubljana, and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia's most important university, was founded in 1919, after Slovenes joined the first Yugoslavia. When it was founded, the university comprised five faculties: law, philosophy, technology, theology and medicine. From the beginning, the seat of the university has been at Congress Square in a building that served as the State Mansion of Carniola from 1902 to 1918.

Libraries National and University Library of Slovenia The National and University Library of Slovenia is the Slovene national and university library. In 2011, it held about 1,307,000 books, 8,700 manuscripts, and numerous other textual, visual and multimedia resources, altogether 2,657,000 volumes.

Central Technological Library The second largest university library in Ljubljana is the Central Technological Library, the national library and information hub for natural sciences and technology.

Municipal Library and other libraries The Municipal City Library of Ljubljana, established in 2008, is the central regional library and the largest Slovenian general public library. In 2011, it held 1,657,000 volumes, among these 1,432,000 books and a multitude of other resources in 36 branches. Altogether, there are 5 general public libraries and over 140 specialised libraries in Ljubljana.

Besides the two largest university libraries there are libraries at individual faculties, departments and institutes of the University of Ljubljana. The largest among them are the Central Humanist Library in the field of humanities, the Central Social Sciences Library, the Central Economic Library in the field of economics, the Central Medical Library in the field of medical sciences, and the Libraries of the Biotechnical Faculty in the field of biology and biotechnology.

History The first libraries in Ljubljana were located in monasteries. The first public library was the Carniolan Estates' Library, established in 1569 by Primož Trubar. In the 17th century, the Jesuit Library collected numerous works, particularly about mathematics. In 1707, the Seminary Library was established; it is the first and oldest public scientific library in Slovenia. Around 1774, after the dissolution of Jesuits, the Lyceum Library was formed from the remains of the Jesuit Library as well as several monastery libraries.

Science The first society of the leading scientists and public workers in Carniola was the Dismas Fraternity (Latin: Societas Unitorum), formed in Ljubljana in 1688. In 1693, the Academia Operosorum Labacensium was founded and lasted with an interruption until the end of the 18th century. The next academy in Ljubljana, the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, was not established until 1938.