Marchpurch.

The Upper Castle of Maribor Mira Strmnik Guli, Mateja Ravnik

In the presentation we will discuss the results of the 2010/2011 excavations which followed the preliminary probing, conducted in 1985, on the hill named Piramida above Maribor. The area of research was the western part of the plateau, namely the western part of the castle complex and inner courtyard along with the outer part of the castle wall. The hill was first settled in prehistory and then again in the late antique period. Before the castle was built, the terrain was flattened and thus prepared for extensive construction. The castle has been occupied until the 18th century when it was demolished and the building material used secondarily for construction of other buildings around Maribor. Among the archaeological finds excavated, a broken bronze seal is particulary worth mentioning. It belonged to Ulrich III of Maribor, a Maribor feudal lord who lived in the castle around 1250. Also of interest is a well or a cistern uncovered in the castle courtyard. The excellent strategic position of the hill overlooking the passage over the river Drava used already in the Roman period, coupled with a fine view over the Drava valley, was the cause for a large scale construction of the castle on Piramida in 1106. The Duke of Carinthia, Bernard of Spanheim, having defeated the Askvinians, acquired the estates in almost all of the so-called Drau March (the March of Drava), a border county established in 970 after the Hungarians had been pushed back to the Pesnica valley. With that the conditions were ripe for the founding of Maribor castle on Piramida, as the center of the march ruled by Margraves who performed administrative, military and judicial functions. But Bernard died in 1147 on a crusade in Asia Minor without any offspring, so his lands were inherited by Otokar III, a nephew on his wifes side. With Otokar III the Maribor castle lost its function as the residence seat and became the headquarters of the Traungau dominion which was run by its administrators until 1182. In the following year, the so-called Lords of Maribor emerged as provincial-princely ministerials and

administered the seat until 1376. They were brought to this area by Otokar IV of Traungau and remained the hereditary castle administrators even under the Bambergs who took over the castle in 1192. The Bambergs also reorganized the dominion around 1200, separating it into the upper and lower parts. After the Lords of Maribor died out, the ownership passed through the hands of many families until in 1784 the castle was abandoned. Thus the main causes for the regression of the castle are the dying out of the founding family (namely Bernard and Kunigunde of Spanheim), the division of dominion by the Bambergs and, last but not least, the founding of the town of Maribor after the mid-13th century. The town was named after the castle on Piramida.

After a very important beginning as a main castle of the border county signified by its very namemarch purg the castle in the march, the border castle, a period of stagnation followed. Still, in spite of its diminishing importance and all of the additions and improvements to the buildings in the following centuries, the castle complex has kept its original design till the very end of its existence.