The centre of the Old Town, this square is graced with the 17th-century Column of St Florian , dedicated to the patron saint of fire fighters, and home to Maribor's 15th-century castle . It contains a Knights’ Hall (Viteška Dvorana) with a remarkable painted ceiling, the baroque Loretska Chapel and a magnificent rococo staircase. It also hosts the Maribor Regional Museum , which has one of the richest collections in Slovenia. The buiding is undergoing renovations, so be advised that some parts of the collection may be off-limits.
On the ground floor there are archaeological, clothing and ethnographic exhibits, including 19th-century beehive panels painted with biblical scenes from the Mislinja and Drava Valleys, models of Štajerska-style hayracks, Kurent costumes and wax ex voto offerings from the area around Ptuj. Upstairs there are rooms devoted to Maribor’s history and its guilds and crafts, a fascinating 18th-century pharmacy, and altar paintings and sculptures from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Taking pride of place are the exquisite statues by Jožef Straub (1712–56) taken from the Church of St Joseph in Studenci.
