The Flexi Journey travel blog has ranked Prešeren Square as being among Europe’s 50 most beautiful squares.

Prešeren Square is one of Ljubljana’s keynote squares. It developed from a medieval crossroads in front of the entrance to the walled town. The Franciscan church of the Annunciation was built alongside it in the 17th century, but the crossroads was only redesigned and paved in the mid-19th century after which the city walls were demolished.

After the great earthquake of 1895, new bourgeois houses grew up around the square: the Frisch and Seunig Houses at the start of Čopova ulica, the Central Pharmacy building, followed by the Urbanc shop, Hauptmann House and thirty years later the Mayer Palace. Simultaneously on the other side of the Ljubljanica, the Filip Mansion (Filipov dvorec) and the Kresija municipal office building were built by the Graz-based architect Leopold Theyer.

The first decade of the 20th century saw the Art Nouveau refurbishment of the Hauptmann House, whereupon the Urbanc House was also built, Ljubljana’s first department store and one of its most beautiful Art Nouveau buildings. Between the two world wars, the Mayer department store was built on the south side of the square to round off the southern side of the square. When architect Jože Plečnik's Triple Bridge was built, the square extended to the other side of the Ljubljanica River and assumed its present appearance.

The Prešeren monument, the work of architect Maks Fabiani and sculptor Ivan Zajc, was unveiled in 1905. The monument depicts the muse of poetry above him holding a spring of laurel over his head. The poet's statue is symbolically gazed upon by a statue of Julija Primic, Prešeren’s great love, mounted on the facade of a building located across the square on Wolfova ulica.

Europe’s 50 most beautiful squares can be seen here. They are listed in alphabetical order by country.