Ptuj Castle

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About Ptuj Castle

Ptuj Castle occupies the top of the hill that dominates the town and the Drava River. A fortification existed there since Antiquity, and the medieval castle was built in the mid‑12th century by the archbishops of Salzburg, to whom the town belonged. It later passed through several noble families and was rebuilt many times around a central courtyard. The last owners, the counts of Herberstein, kept it from 1873 to 1945, when it was nationalized with its furnishings.

Today the castle houses the main collections of the regional museum of Ptuj–Ormož. The furnished halls show the life of the nobility from the 17th to the 19th centuries, with tapestries and portraits. The collection of 17th‑century Turquerie paintings, with portraits of Ottoman figures, is one of the country’s best known. There is also an armory with weapons and armor from the 15th to the 18th centuries and a display of the region’s carnival masks and costumes, including the kurenti.

On the ground floor is the largest collection of historical musical instruments in Slovenia, with pieces from the Renaissance to the 19th century and a Roman tibia, a double bone flute from the 2nd or 3rd century. From the courtyard and the bastions the view covers Ptuj’s roofs, the Drava and Ptuj’s artificial lake.