My Name is Maribor
Maribor was founded in the 12th century on top of the Piramida town hill and was a part of the march of the Frankish state. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Franks built a fortress on top of the hill which was overlooking the Drava Valley allowing them to control the entrance into the valley due to Hungarian incursions. The castle was first mentioned in written documents dated 20 October 1164 where it was described as Castrum Marchburg – which means a castle in the middle of the march. In German, it was called “Burg in der Mark” or Markpurg, Markburg which later translated into Marburg. Most probably there was a castle on the hill even before that time. Namely, we came across a mention dated as early as 1124 of the Podravje region borderland Count, originating from the Spanheim family and for whom the predicate “of Maribor” was used – Bernhard of Maribor.
The document of Duke Leopold VI of Babenberg dated 1209 mentions Maribor as a forum Marchpurch, i.e. a borough. Maribor as a town is first mentioned in the document dated 4 December 1254 where it was named civitatem Marpurg.
Until the beginning of the 19th century the town held the German name of Marburk that the Slovenians adapted into Marprok. To avoid the confusion with the German town of Marburg – Marburg and der Lahn, they have henceforth recorded the name of the town as Marbur an der Drau (Marburg on the Drava River).
In the letter of Stanko Vraz to Ljudevit Gaj dated 10 November 1836, we can find the first written record of Slovenian name Marbor. When translating the name, Vraz followed the example of the German translation of the name Branibor which was translated into Brandenburg. Vraz kept the first part of the name Mar and turned the German burg into bor – i.e. Marbor. Later he stopped using Marbor in favour of the name Maribor. In 1838, his friends began to follow his example and started using the name Maribor.
The Slovenes were opposed to the name Maribor, so constant bickering over the name persisted for the next 25 years.
Lovro Toman (politic and poet, the author of the first Slovenian uncensored printed material) gave meaning to the name with the publication of a poem entitled “Mar i bor”. The name Maribor has finally established itself among the Slovenes and the motto of the town thus became Mar i bor – MAR mi je In BORim se za to mesto (i.e. I care and fight for this town).
Mar i bo – MAR MI JE I(in) BORim se za to mesto.
The text was collected and edited by: Eva Mataln
Translation: Maja Miklavc & Miha Oda
Photos: Igor Unuk
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