LJUBLJANA, a town of Slovenia, Yugoslavia. Pop. (1931) mostly Slovenes. It is an episcopal see, founded in 1461, with a Renaissance cathedral, lavishly frescoed, and several beau tiful churches. There is a high school, a technical school, a School of Music, a university, a museum, a chamber of commerce, several banks, a theatre and societies for the promotion of science and literature. While under Austrian rule it was the centre of the Slovene national movement, the first Slovene news paper having been published here in 1797, while the Prince Bishop was one of the chief promoters of the Yugoslav Move ment. Ljubljana is an important road centre and is a busy indus trial town with eight suburbs. There are cotton, woollen, porce lain, paper, furniture, boot, tobacco, soap, pottery, firehose, match and chemical factories, a bell foundry, breweries, dis tilleries, leather tanneries and brickfields. There is also a State forest nursery, and horses are bred and sold at the annual fair. Since the draining of the surrounding plain, the town has be come a healthy spot, and a favourite summer resort and tourist centre. It is dominated by the mediaeval fortress on the height of the Schlossberg, from which a magnificent view is obtained.
During the World War period the fortress was used for political prisoners, but since then has become a tenement.
Ljubljana lies on the trade route from east to west, and legend says that it was founded by Jason. It is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Emona or Aemona, founded by the emperor Augustus in 34 B.C. It was besieged by Alaric in 400 and desolated by the Huns in 451. In goo it suffered much from the Magyars, who were, however, defeated there in 914. In the 12th century the town passed into the hands of the dukes of Carinthia; in 1270 it was taken by Ottokar of Bohemia; and in 1277 it came under the Habsburgs. In the early part of the 15th century the town was several times besieged by the Turks. In 1809 the town was twice taken by the French, and from 1809 to 1813 it became the seat of their general government of the Illyrian provinces. From 1816-49 Ljubljana was the capital of the kingdom of Illyria. It is historically known from the Congress of Laibach. In 1895 it suffered severely from an earthquake.