Maribor Stories: Scherbaum's Monkey tells the story of an unusual pet belonging to one of the city's prominent business families. Karl Scherbaum, born in 1818, expanded a modest bakery into a successful enterprise with mills and other businesses. In 1883, he introduced electric lighting with 36 bulbs at his steam mill on Castle Square, marking an important step in Maribor's industrial development.
Despite the family's business achievements, locals particularly remembered Marko the monkey, given to Karl's son Gustav as a wedding gift. Marko lived in a cage in the family's courtyard, near today's Leon Štukelj Square. Children often came to see and feed him. He became such a familiar figure that local newspapers even reported his death in January 1935.
Marko's memory survived in a local saying. People behaving mischievously or unusually were compared to Scherbaum's monkey. Today, the tale forms part of the Maribor Stories collection, which explores lesser-known chapters of the city's past through everyday events and memorable local characters.