User:SasaB1665/Three Ponds

Three ponds became part of the Maribor City Park with landscaping in the 1980s. In the past, ponds were a water reserve from which the city's moat was fed if necessary. Today, the area of ​​the Three Ponds offers the visitor, in addition to picturesqueness, mainly catering and recreation. The latest landscaping connected the city park and the hilly landscape of Slovenske gorice. Its arrangement can be defined in the style of the English landscape garden.

Landscape today
Today, ponds are artificial lakes that fill with water from nearby streams. There is also a fourth pond, connected by the other ponds with two canals. The water level of all three ponds decreases from time to time (especially during dry periods) due to the permeable pond bottom of the second pond.

The first pond has a fountain, which also serves as a water aerator in the ponds. They thus provide the oxygen needed for the animals to live in the pond.

The second pond has an artificial island for nesting ducks and swans. This pond is supposed to theoretically have veins in the ground that formed during its deepening. Some veins lead to the first pond, though most of them go deep into the ground.

The third pond is the warmest and freezes only occasionally in winter. There are also animals on or in ponds, such as swans, ducks, fish,… Sometimes, when the lake starts to freeze quickly, a swan or duck can get trapped in the ice.

Pond maintanance
According to Mr. Bruno Fras and Anton Korošec, the islet in the second pond was created because the caretakers of the Three Ponds decided to deepen the second pond. Excess soil was piled up in the middle of the pond. The islet on the third pond was created by making a frame out of branches and the island created itself naturally.

In the 1980s, the first phase of the integrated arrangement of the Three Ponds was completed. The city park was extended to the settlement Ribniško selo. The shooting range that once existed by the fourth pond was closed, mainly for ecological reasons.

Today's arrangement of the promenade and the banks of the Three Ponds consists of aquatic vegetation (planted by the water or on an island), shrubs along the paths, chestnut trees, paved paths, etc. On the other hand, a pebble forest path leads along the pond. The paths are equipped with waste bins, benches, bridges and lights.

The shore and paths along the ponds were designed (at least partly) by the famous builder and restorer of cultural and historical monuments Jože Požauko (1908-1995), who also designed the infrastructure of the settlement Za tremi ribniki.

In 1988, the following designers received the Plečnik Award for the project of arranging three ponds: Borut Pečenko, Tom Pirkmajer, Jože Požauko and Niko Stare.

Three ponds in the past
In the Middle Ages, ponds were three lakes that were created naturally, but were later artificially transformed by man. The town had a city wall with defensive towers, and a defensive moat was dug around the town, which was filled with water from two ponds near Ribniško selo (today's Three Ponds) during the time of danger.

The role of ponds
According to known data, the city was given trenches with a wooden palisade fence in the 13th century, and in the 14th century the city walls were built and thoroughly renovated to protect against Turkish invasions. It is known that as early as the Middle Ages, two main streams supplied water from behind the Kalvarija hill (Barbarski potok) and from Piramida hill (Tri-ribniški potok) into the city moat in front of the city walls, which was filled with water in case of danger.

''Legend from Turkish times: “It is said that in 1532 the Turks rushed in front of Maribor so quickly that the townspeople could hardly close the city gates, but they could not open the locks at the ponds to fill the protective ditches along the walls with water. A shoemaker, disguised in a Turkish suit, volunteered to crawl through the besieging camp at night and open the locks. The water filled the ditches and the Turks who were undermining the city walls drowned in them. "''

The area of ​​the three (actually four) ponds has therefore long been closely linked to the city, both for its defense function and for its economic complementarity. Before the First World War, the area of ​​the Three Ponds was taken care of by the Beautification Society. They maintained the boathouse and the ice rink in the winter.

''Summary from the chronicle of the Three Ponds, by Bruno Fras: “The ice from the second pond was used around 1886 by the Götz brewery, which also cleaned the ponds. It is also known that the Maribor restorer Spatzek grew crayfish in ponds before the First World War. This shows that the water in the ponds was fairly clean at the time. "''

During World War II, the upper pond was heavily overgrown. With the extension of the promenade in the park (after the war, in the 1950s) and the partial arrangement of the area along the third pond, Ribniško selo was included in the park environment. In the 1970s, the entire area of ​​all four ponds was regulated, from the former boathouse to the northwest. A military shooting range not far from the fourth pond (today it houses fish and other aquatic animals, similar to the other three), has been relocated to another location. During the Allied bombing of Maribor, the then German authorities arranged several shelters in the city area. One (still useful today for other purposes) was excavated on the southern slope of the Pyramid Hill, above Tomšič's tree-lined avenue (Tomšičev drevored). The second, much smaller, was built on the west side of the Pyramid, about 50 meters from the building of the former boathouse (with two entrances or exits). It is completely buried today, and the slope is overgrown with bushes and trees, and there are no more visible traces of it. On the opposite side of the pond, less than a hundred meters from the inn to the north, there are still some visible traces of caves (entrances) to the shelter.

Tourism in the past

 * The wooden boathouse at the lower pond existed before 1905.
 * Around 1925, they built a brick boathouse called Frog Castle.
 * The original tourist facility along the Three Ponds was built at the beginning of the century.
 * In May 1907, engineers Hans Dirnböck from Graz drew up plans for a swimming pool by the Three Ponds. The plan shows bathing areas for men, women and children - the latter was at the northern end of the pond. The bottom and partitions between the baths were made of crushed stone, and the planner envisioned the bathing building as a ground floor. The water would flow into the pond through five waterfalls from a height of 3 to 4 meters and six or eight smaller waterfalls. They did extensive water tests and found that the pond’s self-cleaning ability is even greater than that of running water. The biggest problem was the algae or their flowering, which would harden the water but not harm the health of bathers. They were working on the idea of ​​concreting the bottom of the pond and the walls, thus preventing the appearance of algae. In fact, the water in the pond was very clean as the pristine water flowed. In summer, it had a temperature of 19 to 22º Celsius, so the bathing season would last from mid-May to mid-September. In the evenings, they planned to organize promenade concerts, and electrically illuminate the waterfalls and waterfalls with colored light. They even planned to introduce an entrance fee. The project was by far the most luxurious of all at the time. The total cost of building the baths and side rooms would be about 120,000 Austro-Hungarian crowns. It never came to fruition.
 * In 1927, the Beautification Society demolished a wooden dilapidated building. The municipality built, according to the project of architect Max Czeike, a boathouse with appropriate ancillary facilities. The plans have not been preserved, but it was built with the same architectural elements as the Park Café. The boathouse with changing rooms and a terrace was intended for mass socializing of citizens and recreation. In the 1980s, the dilapidated building was demolished, and at the request of the locals, the existing pillars were preserved, restored and covered with a pitched roof.

This area has been a Maribor promenade for many years. People went on trips through the forests on both sides of the ponds, to the Pyramid, or continued their journey to Ribniško selo, Vinarje, Volčje sedlo, Za Kalvarijo, as there were many wine shops here (today most of them are abandoned, including vineyards). In Ribniško selo there was a well-known inn Lovski dom with a bowling alley, and in the present-day Ribniška ulica an inn "Kliček" (as the second owner was called) which was also known as "By the lake". Today, this inn, which was renovated more than three decades ago, is called Pri treh ribnikih.

There was an ice rink on the first pond every winter. Locals and tourists alike were able to skate on it for free. On Saturdays and Sundays, the first pond was decorated with colorful lighting, various events took place next to it, ensembles played music, etc.

Resources

 * Chronicle of the Three Ponds by Bruno Fras
 * Articles in Novice, KS news, later KTD Za tremi ribniki
 * Articles of Mira Šoštariča (1920 - 1999)
 * Notes of the locas (Ivan Cerinšek, Anica Vidovič idr.)
 * Data, collected by Franc Zajec and Bruno Fras
 * Regional Museum Maribor