Celje Sights

  1. Abbey Church of St Daniel

    A few steps to the northwest of the Water Tower is the Abbey Church of St Daniel, dating from the early 14th century. The church has some magnificent frescoes and tombstones, but its greatest treasure is a 15th-century carved wooden pietà in the Chapel of the Sorrowful Mother to the left of the sanctuary. The chapel has carved stone walls and vaults with remnants of frescoes from the early 15th century and carved effigies of the Apostles.

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  2. Capuchin Church of St Cecilia

    On the south bank of the Savinja River a covered stairway with 90 steps at Breg 2 leads to the Capuchin Church of St Cecilia. The Germans used the nearby monastery (now apartments) as a prison during WWII.

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  3. Celje Hall

    Opposite the train station is where you'll find mammoth neo-Gothic Celje Hall, built in 1907 and erstwhile social centre for German-speaking Celjani, which now contains the year-round tourist office and the Children's Art Gallery.

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  4. Celje Museum of Recent History

    Walking eastward along Prešernova ulica from trg Celjskih Knezov, you'll pass the Celje Museum of Recent History in the former town hall building, which was built in 1830. The museum records the story of Celje ('Living in Celje: 1900-2000') from the late 19th century onwards and includes a re-creation of an early 20th-century street complete with tailor, hairdresser, clockmaker and goldsmith.

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  5. Celje Old Castle

    The largest fortress in Slovenia, the Celje Old Castle, is perched on a 407m-high escarpment about 2km southeast of the Old Town; the walk up via a footpath from Cesta na Grad takes about half an hour. The castle was originally built in the early 13th century and went through several transformations, especially under the Counts of Celje in the 14th and 15th centuries.

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  6. Celje Regional Museum

    The museum places much emphasis on Celeia and the Counts of Celje, right down to exhibiting 18 of the nobles' skulls in glass cases. (They were taken from the Minorite Church of Mary on Prešernova ulica in 1956, and the one belonging to Ulric is particularly gruesome.) The museum has a dozen rooms, many of them done up in styles from different periods (eg baroque, neoclassical, Biedemeier, Secessionist), painted with various scenes and filled with fine furniture.

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  7. Children's Art Gallery

    Children's Art Gallery, devoted to art produced by those under the age of 20 and the only such museum in all of Slovenia.

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  8. Church of St Nicholas

    South of Temple of Hercules, you can walk up 396m-high Nicholas Hill (Miklavški Hrib), topped by the Church of St Nicholas, for a wonderful view of the castle, the Old Town and the Savinja.

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  9. City Park

    City Park south of the Savinja River

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  10. Gallery of Contemporary Art

    The funnel-shaped 'Square of the Celje Counts' leads north from Muzejski trg. At the start is the Lower Castle (Spodnij Grad) built in the 14th century for the Celje Counts and today containing the Gallery of Contemporary Art.

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  12. Herman's Den Children's Museum

    The first children's museum in Slovenia. Within the Celje Museum of Recent History.

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  13. Hotel Evropa

    Next door to Celje Hall is the Hotel Evropa, the oldest hotel in Celje. Just south of the hotel (and connected to it) is a medieval defence tower, and about 150m further on, the Water Tower.

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  14. Josip Pelikan Photo Studio

    On the same street as the Water Tower is the Josip Pelikan Photo Studio, the complete studio of an early 20th-century Celje photographer and part of the Museum of Recent History.

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  15. National Hall

    To the north of the Gallery of Contemporary Art is the National Hall, the cultural and social centre for Celje's Slovenes at the end of the 19th century and now the city hall.

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  16. Old County Palace

    A birch-lined park along the Savinja River's northern embankment has an open-air lapidary of Roman remains unearthed in the Celje area. Overlooking it is the 16th-century Old County Palace, a lovely Renaissance building with a two-level arcade around a courtyard, which contains the renovated Celje Regional Museum.

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  17. Temple of Hercules

    Between the Capuchin Church of St Cecilia and City Park is the reconstructed Roman Temple of Hercules dating from the 2nd century AD.

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  18. Water Tower

    The Water Tower, built between 1451 and 1473, is part of the city wall and ramparts. Many of the blocks used are of Roman origin.

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