History
Novo Mesto (literally "New Town") has been settled since pre-history. The city is one of the most important archeological sites of the Hallstatt culture (Early Iron Age) and has been nicknamed the "City of Situlas" after numerous situlas found in the area.
Graben Castle down the Krka River, ancestral seat of the noble House of Graben von Stein, was first mentioned in a 1170 deed. The town itself was founded by the Habsburg archduke Rudolf IV of Austria on 7 April 1365 as Rudolfswerth (Slovene: Rudolfovo). The Austrian Habsburgs received the Carniolan March from the hands of Emperor Louis IV in 1335 and in 1364 Rudolf "the Founder" proclaimed himself a Duke of Carniola.
Following World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the city passed to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and was officially renamed Novo mesto although it had been informally known as such since its founding. During World War II the city passed back and forth between Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, finally settling in German hands.
In 1958, the authorities of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had a motorway built connecting the Slovenian capital Ljubljana and Zagreb in Croatia, which passed through Novo Mesto. The A2 motorway is today part of the European route E70. With its construction, Novo Mesto became much better connected to the rest of Slovenia and the rest of Yugoslavia, and began to grow as an important regional center.
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