The trinational town twinning between Saint-Florent-sur-Cher, Šentjur and Neu-Anspach has existed since 2006. In Saint-Florent, the street “Rue de la Slovénie” has commemorated this friendship since 2014.

The municipality of Šentjur is 42 km away from Maribor, the former Marburg. Very close to the small town with its many small villages are the larger tourist thermal spas Rogaška Slatina and Olimje.

Šentjur was first mentioned in 1340, when the town began to develop around the original St. George’s Church (Sveti Jurij). Saint George, the dragon slayer, is the origin of the town’s name and the town’s coat of arms also features the patron saint.

The upper Šentjur Square, which dominates the town with St. George’s Church, was the home of famous composers of the Ipavec family. It has been turned into a museum with a wedding hall, the wine cellar has a shop selling top quality wines, and the old lime tree and the Plečnik fountain are in the garden.

On Rifnik Hill, which rises above the Šentjur valley, there is an archaeological park with the restored foundations of two early Christian churches, seven houses and defensive walls with guardhouses; a reconstructed prehistoric house houses an exhibition of recovered objects.

The surrounding villages also offer opportunities for active recreation. The marked mountain path from Šentjur leads to the hill Resevno with a mountain hut and a lookout tower. In Ponikev is the birthplace of the beatified bishop Anton Martin Slomšek (26.11.1800 – 24.09.1862), who was of great importance to the Slovenian national movement as a promoter of popular education and as a writer and poet.

The following links provide further insights into the partner municipality:

To the official page of the town (Slovenian and English): https://www.sentjur.si/obcinskevsebine/3518

To the tourism page in English: https://turizem-sentjur.com/en/

An entertaining travel blog describing the stay in Sentjur can be found here (only in German): https://www.travelwriticus.at/sehenswuerdigkeiten-sentjur/

Highly recommended is the tourism website for Slovenia: https://www.slovenia.info/en

And the best thing is to be there at the next citizens’ meeting to get to know the country and its people personally.