MARIBOR

German Marburg, industrial town and the political and economic centre of northern Slovenia, on the Drava River near the Austrian border. A popular resort and winter-sports centre, it lies between the Pohorje and Slovenske mountains. Though it is the centre of a fertile region specializing in apple and grape growing, it is one of the largest industrial cities in Slovenia. Heavy industry is dominant: chemicals, engineering, electrical and aluminum industries, truck and bus manufacture. A settlement existed in Roman times, but the present town grew from the 12th century, being first documented in 1147. From 1209 it developed as a Habsburg trade centre, and it has a long history as a focal point of German culture and as a Christian bastion against the Turks. With the building of the Vienna-Trieste railway in the 1840s, Maribor was revitalized. During World War II the town was subjected to an intense program of Germanization until its liberation in 1945 by Yugoslav Partisans. Historic structures include a 12th-century cathedral with many later additions, a 15th-century fortress famous for its sculptures and frescoes, the St. Madeleine Church (1288; rebuilt 1788), and a monument recalling the great plague of 1680. A new university was opened in Maribor in 1975. Pop. (1981) 106,113.