Ljudski Vrt Stadium - History

History

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 build 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 tree park (German: Volksgarten) was planted on the area from which Ljudski Vrt received its present day name. Around the start of the 20th century, Ljudski Vrt was starting to become 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. Like in other Slovenian towns (Ljubljana, Celje, Trbovlje) after World War I football boomed in Maribor with the establishment of new clubs, most notably 1. SSK Maribor (Slovene: 1. Slovenski Športni Klub Maribor, English: 1. Slovene Sport Club Maribor), which was founded in 1919 by Slovenian youth. Together with athletics and tennis, football was one of the main sports departments of the club 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.

After the World War II invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, Maribor came under the occupation of Nazi Germany and the Nazi regime immediately disbanded all Slovene cultural and sports societies. 1. 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 in the fight for their fatherland and a total of 51 perished 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 the most destroyed larger town in Yugoslavia and the whole Ljudski Vrt area was devastated, completely in ruins 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).

The renovation and construction of the sports infrastructure at Ljudski Vrt and throughout Maribor was the primary objective of the new sports organization during most of the late 1940s and early 1950s and on 12 July 1952 the Ljudski Vrt Stadium was opened. At the time the main pitch was fully enclosed by banking, surrounding the athletic track, with concrete terraces and seats located on the western side. By 1958 the concrete terraces, in length of 248 meters, were constructed throughout the banking around the pitch and served as the standing area for over 40 years. Milan Černigoj was the main architect of the stadium and in late 1950s he was joined by Boris Pipan with whom they designed a new main stand on the western side of the pitch. The construction began in May 1960 and was completed in 1962, with the new club offices, dressing rooms and gyms located beneath it. Notable feature of the stand includes 129,8 meters long and 18,4 meters high concrete arch that is protected by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (Zavod za varstvo kulturne dediščine Slovenije). The primary user of the stadium and the new club offices was to be NK Branik, however, the club was disbanded in August 1960. After the disbandment of Branik Maribor in August 1960 the city of Maribor was left without an association football club that would play on a professional level, which was one of the reasons why NK Maribor was established on 12 December 1960. The new club found their home in Ljudski Vrt and on 25 June 1961 they played their first match at the stadium, with the main stand still under construction at the time.

Ljudski Vrt was to remain in much the same state for another 30 years with no major developments until the early 1990s and the independence of Slovenia. After the opening of the main stand in 1962 the stadium's capacity increased to over 10,000. However, as most of the stadium had only concrete standing terraces it was possible to accommodate as much as 20,000 spectators during the club's important matches. The wooden benches on the main stand were replaced by plastic seats in 1994. During the same year, on 24 August, the stadium received four floodlight pylons and the first football match at night was played in a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup between NK Maribor and FC Norma Tallinn; won by Maribor 10–0. The capacity of the stadium was greatly reduced four years later, as a result of UEFA safety regulations, with the ground's conversion to an all-seater stadium. During the 1999–2000 season Maribor became the first Slovenian club which qualified to the elite UEFA Champions League. As a result, the stadium received its first major redevelopment since 1962 with the renovation of the main stand's VIP box and dressing rooms and club offices beneath it. The terraces ring opposite of the main stand was enlarged and the total capacity of the stadium was brought to 10,160 seats, making Ljudski Vrt the largest football stadium in the country at the time.

Maribor results in domestic and international competitions during the 1990s and their dedicated fanbase were the main reasons for political and sports officials in the city to start thinking about a new stadium. In 1996 the OFIS Architects Project Ring was selected with a plan to fully redevelop and modernise the stadium. The project included the refurbishment of the main stand and the surrounding area, removal of the athletic track and the concrete terraces on the northern, southern and eastern side of the pitch and their replacement with the brand new covered stands. In addition, the project also included new club offices, gym's, dressing rooms and commercial premises such as shops and bars located beneath the new stands. However, it would take nearly a decade for the project to become a reality when in 2006 the City of Maribor and MŠD Branik, with the help of the Government of Slovenia and the European Union, finally amassed enough funds to start the first stage of the project.

The first stage of improvements, worth about 10 million euros, saw the removal of the athletic track and the uncovered stands that surrounded the pitch from the north, east and south which were replaced by new covered stands, built only couple of meters from the pitch. Construction began in August 2006 and was finished by May 2008. One of the improvements included the replacement of the turf, which also included the installation of the underground heating system, and during that time Maribor played couple of months at the Ptuj City Stadium in Ptuj, about 30 kilometres from the city of Maribor. In addition, this was the first time that Maribor had played home matches outside of the Ljudski Vrt Stadium since the opening of the main stand in 1961. The new stands, which increased the stadium capacity by over 2,000 seats, were opened on 10 May 2008 during a league match against Nafta. The match was played in front of a sold out crowd of 12,435 spectators and Maribor won 3–1. The second stage of the project started in 2010 and saw the completion of the premises under the new eastern stand. It included new club offices and dressing rooms for the club, including gyms and the new VIP area. In addition, about 500 new seats were installed and the total capacity of the stadium was brought to its present 12,994 seats.