Ljubljana Beloved
Ljubljana of today is a modern capital city, vibrating in dynamic rhytms. It is the seat of the Slovene government and an university centre, with more than 50 000 students giving it young and fresh appeareance. High-quality theatre, concerts, numerous museums and galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques and shops offer an appealing environment to the visitors. Many domestic and foreign visitors fall in love with Ljubljana and are more than happy to believe that its name derives from the old Slovene word meaning »beloved«.
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The legend says, that Ljubljana was founded by the Greek mythological hero Jason and his companions, the Argonauts, who had stolen the golden fleece from King Aetes and fled from him across the Black Sea and up the Danube, Sava and Ljubljanica rivers.
In Baroque, Ljubljana became a cultural centre of the region, with influence high beyn its borders. The year 1701 saw the establishment of Academia philharmonicorum, one of the first musical associations of the kind outside Italy. The honorary members of the Philharmonic Society, Academia philharmonicorum's immediate successor, were the composers Josef Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms.
Today, Ljubljana represents a dynamical business and cultural centre of a successful European country, which will take over a 6-month presidency of the EU in the beginning of 2008.