page_title: Ljudski vrt
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Ljudski vrt / History / Background
caption_attribution_description: Slovenščina: Dela na stadionu Ljudski vrt
context_page_description: The Stadion Ljudski vrt is an association football stadium located on the left bank of the river Drava in the district of Koroška Vrata, Maribor, Slovenia, with a seating capacity of 12,702. The ground has been the home of NK Maribor for every season since their formation on 12 December 1960, with the exception of two short periods in early 1961 during the construction of the new stands and early 2008, when the stadium underwent a major reconstruction. Opened in 1952, it was originally the home of Branik Maribor, an association football club, which folded and was disbanded in 1960. The ground has hosted 23 Slovenia internationals at senior level, the first in 1994 and the most recent in 2015. Ljudski vrt has hosted more Slovenian Football Cup finals than any other stadium, having hosted six matches in total. In addition, the stadium was one of the four venues, which hosted the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship.
  The area where the Ljudski vrt is situated was used for burial purposes for centuries before it was first used for football in the early 1920s.
context_section_description: The area now known as Ljudski vrt was originally located outside of Maribor's city walls and served as a cemetery for centuries. Around the year 1358 a small parish church with a cemetery was built and remained there until 1522 when it was abandoned, with Turkish incursions being the most likely reason. By 1571 the church was completely in ruins. The site served as a cemetery again between 1783 and 1914 when it was closed by a decision of the Maribor city council. Some of the tombs were allowed to be in use until 1937 when they were transferred to a new site. In 1873, a public park (German: Volksgarten) was planted on the area from which Ljudski vrt received its present-day name. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ljudski vrt area became the recreational centre of the city and records from 1901 show that tennis was already being played there during that time. During World War I, the whole area served as a shooting range for the Austro-Hungarian Army. Similar to other Slovenian towns, football in Maribor boomed after World War I with the establishment of new clubs, most notably I. SSK Maribor, which was founded in 1919 by Slovenian youth. Prior that, the only Maribor-based club was SV Rapid Marburg, a club founded by the German population of the city in November 1909. Football was one of the main sports departments of both clubs and in 1920 they received their first football field at the Ljudski vrt area, which was erected with the help of local volunteers and prison convicts. The inaugural football match at the area was played on 9 May 1920, when Rapid defeated Slovan from Ljubljana 4–2 in front of 1,500 spectators.
  After the invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, Maribor was annexed by Nazi Germany and the Nazi regime immediately disbanded all Slovene cultural and sports societies. I. SSK Maribor was particularly affected with dozens of arrests and deportations of their members. The club ceased all operations and many of their members joined the resistance movement, resulting in a death of 51 members while fighting the Germans. Those victims were later commemorated with the erection of a statue located on the northwestern corner of the stadium today. By the end of the war, Maribor was among the most destroyed larger towns in Yugoslavia and the whole Ljudski vrt area was devastated and without an organization which would renovate and later manage the sporting infrastructure at the site. On 29 January 1949, an initiative led to the establishment of Branik Maribor football club. Two years later, in 1951, they became the flagship of the new sport organization, MŠD Branik (Mariborsko Športno Društvo Branik).
caption: The construction of the main stand in 1961.
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