Located just beyond the market’s eastern boundary the Dragon Bridge was the first major Art Nouveau project to be built in the city. Designed by the architect Jurij Zaninovic, it was built in 1901 to mark the 60th birthday of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef I. The bridge gets its name from the bronze dragons that stand guard over its ends. It is said that the legendary voyagers, Jason and the Argonauts, fought with and killed a dragon in the marshes south of Ljubljana before continuing on their journey towards the Adriatic.*

Rising from the bridge’s parapet is a line of Art Nouveau lampposts, decorated with griffin motifs and crowned with full fruit-like clusters of glass globes. A plaque halfway along the bridge honours Ivan Hrbar (1851 – 1941), the mayor of Ljubljana who oversaw the bridge’s construction. The western end of the bridge provides a fine view of Ljubljiana’s market halls, with the twin towers and dome of the cathedral rising in the distance.*

*From The Eyewitness Travel Guide to Slovenia.