Municipality of Maribor

The Municipality of Maribor covers a total area of 147 square metres and has a population of 208,944 people (2002) living in 33 settlements. It is one of eleven Slovene Urban Municipalities located at the junction of five natural geographical regions and of road and railway routes from Vienna to Trieste, Zagreb and Budapest. Prior to 1991 Slovenia’s second largest city was the industrial centre of Slovenia, but after independence its huge state factories faced economic ruin. In recent years a steady growth of small economic enterprises has been underway. The city Maribor was declared the European Capital of Culture 2012 and will share the title with Portugal's Guimaraes as the first Slovene city. Maribor won the local competition with its candidature with the five associated cities, namely Ptuj, Murska Sobota, Slovenj Gradec, Novo mesto and Velenje.

The Office for Culture and Youth is responsible for cultural activities, thus it draws up development proposals, co-finances the programmes of cultural organisations and monitors their implementation. It also funds and oversees the infrastructure and finances of organisations established by the Municipality. These are: Narodni dom Maribor, Maribor Puppet Theatre, Maribor National Liberation Museum, Maribor Regional Museum with the Maribor Synagogue Cultural Centre, Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor Public Library and MKC Maribor Youth Culture Centre.

Some cultural institutions located in Maribor have the status of state institutions, for instance the Regional Archives of Maribor and the Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Maribor, which hosts the annual Borštnik Theatre Festival, a major gathering of Slovene theatres and theatre ensembles that is cofunded by the municipality.

The local branches of the Union of Cultural Societies of Slovenia (ZKDS) and the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia, which organises a traditional Naša pesem Choir Competition, facilitate the activities of around 90 cultural associations with about 3,600 members.

Municipality of Maribor bestows the Glazer Award and Glazer Credentials every year for distinctive production in the sphere of culture to artists or cultural institutions working in the eastern Slovene region.

The EU culture ministers confirmed Maribor as the 2012 European Capital of Culture. With the slogan 'Pure Energy' it should try to present cultural values as elementary cohesive forces of the urban, regional, national and the European multicultural community. An ambitious investments in cultural infrastructure are in view, funding will be provided from the local as well as state authorities as well as European funds. The international architectural competition for the design of the Drava bank between the existing footbridge and the railway bridge, as well as the plan for a new contemporary art gallery took place. In 2012 a series of attractive cultural events will take place, including the "celebrity" events, which will aim at attracting the European public.

External links

Municipality of Maribor website
Maribor on Wikipedia
Maribor - European Capital of Culture 2012 - Pure energy - website presenting all fields of culture (Maribor and Eastern Slovena region) in light of the proposed 2012 programme
26th Winter Universiade Maribor 2013
Dravoskop - portal of the Podravje Region
Maribor photos on Kraji.eu

Municipality of Maribor

See also

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