DOMINICAN MONASTERY

Mathilde, widow of Frederick III, donated the land to the Dominicans in 1230. Originally from Carinthia, they settled on the castle grounds a year later. The monastery was then only partially completed. Two renovations change its appearance. The first, in the mid-fourteenth century, following the fire of 1302. In the cloister, the fresco of the Dominicans at prayer dates from this period. The second renovation, a century later, gives the cloister its final appearance. The order was dissolved by Emperor Joseph II in 1786. The former monastery escaped its conversion into a textile factory. In 1928, this former museum installed its archaeological collections there.

In the crypt, the reconstruction of a shrine dedicated to Mithra, discovered at Spodnja Hajdina in 1901, allows you to become familiar with this religion originating in Persia, which was widespread in the first centuries of Christianity among the Romans and was introduced by soldiers on European soil. The initiation cult was reserved exclusively for men. The lapidary occupies the ground floor of the old church. Funerary stelae are attributed to soldiers and veterans of the Roman legions who were stationed in Ptuj (Poetivo). The bas-reliefs of the 2nd and 3rd centuries depicting the Nurse are of great beauty. The Nutrices Augustae was revered by the women and children she was supposed to protect. The Celts were already practicing this cult. On the first floor were gathered Roman pieces (jewellery, glassware, pottery...) as well as Slavic pottery.