P296 - Slovenia - The Triple Bridges in Ljubljana

Tromostovje (the three bridges), Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is located in the centre of the country, historically part of the Inner Carniola, and is a mid-sized city of some 280,000 inhabitants. Ljubljana is regarded as the cultural, scientific, economic, political and administrative centre of Slovenia, independent since 1991. Throughout its history, it has been influenced by its geographic position at the crossroads of Germanic, Latin and Slavic culture.

Its transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition are contributing factors to its leading economic position. Ljubljana is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and all government ministries of Slovenia. It is also the seat of Parliament and of the Office of the President.

The Triple Bridge (Slovene: Tromostovje) is one of the symbols of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

There is mention of a wooden bridge (called the Old Bridge, Stari most) in this location from 1280, and which had to be built anew in 1657 after a fire. This was replaced in 1842 by a new bridge designed by Giovanni Picco, an Italian architect, named Hospital Bridge (Špitalski most), officially Franz's Bridge (Frančev most) in honor of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria.

This stone arch bridge is the central part of the modern bridge. It was extended into the Triple Bridge by the 1929 design of the Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik (1872-1957), who added pedestrian bridges either side, effectively widening the bridge and preventing it from being a bottleneck. This was completed in 1932.

卢布尔雅那（斯洛文尼亚语、匈牙利语：Ljubljana），德国称莱巴赫（Laibach），意大利称卢布尔雅那（Lubiana），斯洛文尼亚的首都、该国最大城市和11个特别市之一。面积约170平方公里，人口27.86万（2007年统计）。

卢布尔雅那是斯洛文尼亚的政治、经济和文化中心。该市是斯洛文尼亚中央政府及其各部、国会和总统的驻地。由于交通联系、产业集中、科研机构和产业传统等方面的优势，该市在斯洛文尼亚得以拥有首席经济地位。

卢布尔雅那地处阿尔卑斯山山麓的河谷盆地，风景宜人。城市的建筑氛围明显受到了来自奥地利和意大利的强烈影响，位于河畔的市中心地带，遍布文艺复兴风格、巴洛克风格、新古典主义和新艺术运动风格的古老建筑与桥梁，高地上始建于中世纪的城堡则俯瞰整个古城。卢布尔雅那的另一个特别之处，是其著名的非主流文化中心Metelkova，在反传统的青年人中颇有影响。

盧布爾雅那以城堡山腳下Triple Bridge橋一帶小巧的老城區為中心，向外呈輻射狀發散。所有引人入勝的景點以及火車站和汽車站都可步行到達。城中最醒目的景點是雄踞在懸崖之上的盧布爾雅那城堡，這裡是俯瞰整個市區的絕佳地點。城堡的中庭和一些堡壘可以免費參觀，旅遊電車在老城區緩慢地駛過，在城市廣場，建於1660年的粉紅色的聖芳濟會報喜教堂優雅地等待著人們的探訪，深受人們喜愛的浪漫詩人弗蘭採·普列舍倫的雕像矗立在廣場上，體積不大但卻赫赫有名的Triple Bridge橋就在老城中心。老城的北端的大街旁是充滿了浪漫線條、花花葉葉的新藝術建築群；而Triple Bridge大橋的東邊聖尼古拉斯大教堂建於1708年，教堂內宏大壁畫讓人驚嘆；龍橋上可愛的龍是這座城市的守護神。

References sources : wikipedia, big5.cri.cn