Enjoy the view
Take half an hour and, starting from the City park, ascend the 386-metre high town hill. From the spot, where once the Maribor castle used to stand, you can enjoy a wonderful view of the vines on the slopes and of the whole city. Piramida is a popular excursion sight for the people of Maribor and other visitors.
How to reach the top?
The path, which rises above the city park along the southern slope of the hill, is abundant with grape vines. Descending you can choose another path or continue along the crest towards the west and turn your walk into a longer recreational march.
The wine growing hills offer favourable natural surroundings for different animal species; you might come across deer, hare, different reptiles, pheasants and songbirds, butterflies and insects and even foxes!
About the castle and the chapel
The noble Spanheim family built the castle at the beginning of the 12th century for protection against the Hungarians. The castle was in the border Drava march and it was from after that the settlement, market town and town got the name Marchpurg or Marburg. In the year 1528 the castle burnt down. Around the year 1560 it was renovated in a Renaissance style, then in 1790 it was finally pulled down. From the remains of the building materials a stone pyramid was built, which also gave the hill its name - Piramida. The only remains of the castle were a trench with a steep embankment and a well without a rim. At the top of the rampart stands a classicist chapel with a stone statue of Mary dating from the year 1821. The inscription on the memorial plaque inside the chapel testifies that in the year 1821 lightening destroyed the original pyramid. Count Henrik Brandis had the chapel erected in memory of the location of the old castle.
Prior to the name Piramida the hill had several different names from "mons castri" to "der Purgperg" during the 13th and 14th centuries.
