Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia. Slovenia is a small country in Europe.

A river runs through the old town. A castle sits on a hill above it.

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia. The Statistical Office of Slovenia counted 302,826 people in the city's municipality on 1 January 2026.

The Ljubljanica River winds through the old town, below a castle on a wooded hill. In 2016 the European Commission named Ljubljana a European Green Capital; its jury was impressed by how the city had changed to become more sustainable.

Ljubljana is Slovenia's political, administrative, cultural and economic center, as the European Commission put it when it named the city European Green Capital for 2016; the jury was impressed by how far the city had transformed itself over the previous 10 to 15 years.

The Statistical Office of Slovenia's register-based figures show the municipality growing steadily: 300,354 residents on 1 January 2025, 301,268 on 1 July 2025 and 302,826 on 1 January 2026. The old town lies along the Ljubljanica River beneath Castle Hill. Between the two world wars the architect Jože Plečnik added public spaces and buildings that, in UNESCO's words, changed the identity of the city; they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A little train goes up the hill to the castle. It takes only one minute!

One bridge is really three bridges side by side. Another bridge has four big dragon statues.

Ljubljana Castle has stood on its hill above the city for about 900 years. Over time it has been a fortress, a home for the governor, army barracks and a prison. Today a funicular carries 28 people at a time to the top in about one minute.

In the old town, the Triple Bridge is three bridges side by side: a stone bridge from 1842 with two footbridges added by the architect Jože Plečnik. Nearby, four dragon statues stand on the Dragon Bridge, built in 1900 and 1901. A dragon also appears on the city's coat of arms and flag.

Ljubljana Castle has crowned its hill for about 900 years; its present outer shell dates mostly from the mid-16th and 17th centuries. It has served as a fortress, the residence of the provincial governor, a barracks and a prison, and now holds a museum of Slovenian history and a puppet museum. The funicular from Krekov trg climbs a little less than 70 m in about a minute.

The Triple Bridge's central stone span of 1842 replaced a medieval wooden crossing on a route between northwestern Europe and the Balkans; Plečnik added the two pedestrian bridges, stone balustrades and riverside terraces in 1929–1932. The Dragon Bridge (1900–1901), originally named for the jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I, was the city's first reinforced concrete structure, designed by the engineer Josef Melan, with dragons and lamps by the architect Jurij Zaninović.

Paths for walking run along both banks of the river.

To reach the castle, you can ride a little train up the steep hill.

Promenades run along both banks of the Ljubljanica River, and footbridges link them, including the two side bridges of the Triple Bridge, built only for people walking.

To reach the castle, visitors can take the funicular from Krekov trg square in the old town. It carries 28 passengers and climbs almost 70 meters in about one minute.

UNESCO describes Plečnik's plan for the city as two main axes linked by cross-routes. The land axis, the Green Promenade, runs from the Trnovo Bridge through the Square of the French Revolution and along Vegova Street, past the National and University Library, to Congress Square and Zvezda Park. Parallel to it, the water axis follows promenades, embankments and bridges along the Ljubljanica from Trnovo to the Sluice Gate.

The Triple Bridge sits where these routes cross. For the climb to the castle, the funicular from Krekov trg, run by the public institution Ljubljana Castle, carries 28 passengers up a height difference of a little less than 70 m in about a minute. The European Commission's Green Capital jury pointed to the city's transformation in sustainability over the 10 to 15 years before 2016.

An architect named Jože Plečnik designed many places in Ljubljana. He made bridges, a library and a market by the river.

These places are still part of the city today.

Between the two world wars, the architect Jože Plečnik designed squares, parks, promenades, bridges, a market, churches and a national library for Ljubljana. He wanted the city to work well for the people living in it, and UNESCO listed his works there as a World Heritage Site in 2021.

UNESCO describes how his spaces serve different needs: a market for shopping, bridges and a square for meeting friends, riverside walks and a park for relaxing, and a library for learning.

UNESCO's 2021 listing, 'The works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana – Human Centred Urban Design', recognizes how Plečnik (1872–1957) helped turn a provincial town of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into the symbolic capital of the Slovenian people after World War I. Rather than rebuilding, he added new ensembles and accents in dialogue with the older city.

UNESCO groups the results by use: spiritual spaces (the Churches of St Michael and St Francis of Assisi, and the Žale funerary complex), places to relax (an archaeological park along the Roman walls, the river embankments, Trnovo Quay), Plečnik's Market, places to meet (Congress Square, the Three Bridges, the Cobblers' Bridge), and places of learning (Vegova Street and the National and University Library). The City Museum adds that the University of Ljubljana and the Academy of Sciences and Arts were founded in the same interwar years.