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The main parish church of St. George in Ptuj is one of the most interesting cultural monuments in Slovenia. Church’s patron saint St. George is also the protector of the town.
A local Roman road ran here as early as the 1st century, and alleged remains of an ancient Christian basilica from the 4th century were discovered nearby. The current church’s predecessor probably stood here as early as the 9th century. The current building, whose beginnings date back to the 12th century, was modernized several times, which resulted in a mixture of styles: Romanesque, the prevailing Gothic style, and Baroque. The elaborate interior of the church contains the most important Slovenian Gothic monuments: the statue of the patron saint of the church and town St. George from around 1380, choir benches from 1446, and a winged altarpiece, which was painted by the Salzburg painter Conrad Laib around 1460. There was a town cemetery next to the church, as evidenced by many tombstones built into the walls of the parish church.
Individual Roman monuments are also kept in the exterior niches in the church’s north wall. Four ancient dedication stones are part of the Povoden Museum. The first one depicts a man in a tunic with a belt, two are dedicated to Jupiter the Depulsor, the averter of evil, and one to Jupiter, the best and greatest.
