Prešeren Square (Slovene: Prešernov trg) is the central square in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Prešeren Square is a major meeting point in Ljubljana, where concerts, sport events, political events and other types of events take place. The square and surroundings have been closed to traffic since 1 September 2007.[1] Only a tourist train leaves Prešeren Square every day, transporting tourists to the Ljubljana Castle.[1]
Prešeren Square was formed at the place of a crossroad before a city gate of the medieval Ljubljana. It started to gain its current appearance in the 17th century, when the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation was built. It was first known as the Maria Square after the church. After the 1895 Ljubljana earthquake that damaged and ruined the medieval houses, the Baroque style bourgeois palaces were built at their place: the Frisch House, the Seunig House, the Central Pharmacy, the Urbanc House, the Hauptmann house, and the Mayer House.
A statue of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren with a muse stands in the middle of the square. The Prešeren Statue was created by Ivan Zajec in 1905, whereas the pedestal was created by Max Fabiani. The statue faces the window where Prešeren's "muse" used to live. There is a small statue on that building as well. On the north side stands the baroque-style Franciscan Church of the Annunciation.
One of the main shopping streets in Ljubljana, Čop Street (Čopova ulica), leads northwest towards the Nama department store. On the south side, the Ljubljanica River passes by and is traversed by the city's best-known bridge, the Triple Bridge (Tromostovje), designed in 1929 by Jože Plečnik. An ice-cream parlour and a coffee house are located near the Triple Bridge.[1] The building of the Central Pharmacy is located to the east, while Wolf Street (Wolfova ulica) leads towards Congress Square (Kongresni trg) to the west. At the end of Wolf Street, facing Prešeren Square, stands the Hauptmann House, built in 1873, and one of the few buildings in the area that survived the Ljubljana earthquake of 1895. In 1904, it was renovated by the architect Ciril Metod Koch in the Vienna Secession style.