Ancient town Emona

The ancient  town Emona was build where today's Ljubljana lays by the Roman in 14 AD. It was build on the plain, so called the doors of Ljubljana. They used the natural passageway between the Castle hill and the Šiška hill. This passageway is a part of an important trade route, connecting the North Europe with the Mediterranean sea.

Emona layout was a rectangular and measured 523 x 435 meters (572 x 475 yards) sourrounded by walls. The town was divided by five or seven perpendicular roads, called cardines and decumani. Underneath were the kloaka's, sewage canals, leading to the Ljubljanica river. The walls were consolidated with defence towers and trenches. The city degraded around year 600, when the Slavs started to populate the area and started to build their own colony, that became the Medieval Ljubljana.

Križanke in Ljubljana

Križanke were build by the German Knights, that are called “križniki” in Slovenia. The order of the Knights was established in the time of the Crusades and was one of the orders, that connected the Knighthood with the priesthood. They devoted themselves to help the sick and protect the pilgrims, but have also pledged to fight the infidels. They came into Ljubljana at around 1228. The Duke of Carinthia, Ulrich 3rd build the house for them, where you can see the today's Križanke. It was called “Domus B. V. Mariae Gloriosae” or the home of the glorious Virgin Mary. They have taken care of the poor, helped with the education of people and with the defence of the country. They also helped to spread worship of Mary. It is also written that they had a school in 1337 and they established a leper hospital (it was mentioned already in 1280), and an orphanage.

The church can still be seen in Križanke and was rebuild in 1714 in the Greece style. The complex was used by monks. In 1952 the town asked the architect Jože Plečnik to rebuild it, modelling the Italian architects. Križanke were rebuild into a place that hosts cultural events.