Top Historic Sights in Piran, Slovenia
Explore the historic highlights of Piran
Church of Snowy Mary
The Church of Snowy Mary was first mentioned in the year 1404. A rich lady from Piran donated the money for its construction. A Baroque altar from the 17th century decorates the presbytery. There are many paintings on the walls, in wooden and fretted frames, made in the year 1666 by B. Marangoni from Mantova. On the east side, above the entrance, there is the main painting from the second half of the 17th century portray ...Church of Our Lady of Consolation
The Church of Our Lady was initially dedicated to St. Michael. Its original form dates from the year 1439, and in the 17th century it was restored. Hence its exterior and interior are significantly baroque. Next to the central altar from the 18th century, there is a painting of Mary with the Child. The church is richly decorated with four paintings representing the stages in the life of St. Augustine. They were initially ...Minorite Monastery Church
St. Francis Church is situated next to the Franciscan monastery. In front of it there is a small square, formerly used as a cemetery. The construction of the church and the monastery reaches back to the year 1301. Despite many restorations, traces of the period in which the church was built can still be seen in the presbytery. The present interior dates from the 17th century and the exterior from the 19th century. The le ...St. George's Cathedral
Above the compact Piran town centre reigns St. George"s Cathedral, which gives the city its special character. It was probably built in the 12th century, but no exact data in this regard exists. In the 14th century, it was built to its present size. In the year 1344, on the Day of St. George, the cathedral was consecrated by nine bishops from near and far. It acquired its present appearance after Baroque renovation ...St. Stephen's Church
St. Stephen"s church is one of the oldest in Piran, and in the 13th and 14th centuries it was also one of the most important sacral buildings in the town. The seat of the order of the Brotherhood of a Happy Last Hour used to be in the church, where they prayed and kept relics in the main hall and in the attic. Inside the church there are statues of the St. Stephen and St. Lawrence, as well as paintings by Jakob and ...St. Clement's Church
St. Clement church was first mentioned in the 13th century. It acquired its present-day appearance after numerous renovations in the year 1773 and extensive restoration in the year 1890. It was dedicated to one of the first Roman popes – St. Clement. Because of the dreaded plague that propagated throughout Istria in the 17th century, the church was renamed Our Lady of Health Church, as St. Mary was, together with S ...Piran Town Walls
Significant parts of the city walls of Piran remain well-preserved. Piran"s three walls were built in response to the city"s expansion. The first wall was built in the 7th century, separating the town into four streets. The first wall can be seen in the old part of the town. The wall was moved south-west when new streets were built. The fortification wall, which was built along the southern coast of the town, ha ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument. The architect was Henry Bacon and the designer of the primary statue was Daniel Chester French.
Dedicated in 1922, it is one of several monuments built to honor an American president. It has always been a major tourist attraction and since the 1930s has been a symbolic center focused on race relations.
The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln, 'The Gettysburg Address' and his 'Second Inaugural Address'. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Since 2010, approximately 6 million people visit the memorial annually.