The story of Maribor Cathedral

You are standing at the geometric centre of Maribor's old town, and the church in front of you has changed its patron saint along the way. When it was first mentioned in 1248, it was called the church of Saint Thomas the Apostle.

In 1254 both Saint Thomas and Saint John the Baptist were named, and from 1399 only John remained. The core of the building is Romanesque, from the late 12th century, built of grey and yellowish sandstone.

In the Gothic period it gained a rib vault, a larger choir and two side naves, and in the Baroque period the chapels of Saint Francis Xavier and of the Holy Cross. The bell tower was raised between 1623 and 1624. Today this is Maribor Cathedral, seat of the Archdiocese of Maribor, and it is also the resting place of Bishop Anton Martin Slomšek, an advocate of Slovene culture, after whom the square outside is named.