In 2015, when we marked the 110th anniversary of the Ljubljana Castle under the ownership of the city, the number of visitors at the city landmark again exceeded the one million mark and the funicular railway took on board the highest number of passengers ever – 348,253.

The Ljubljana Castle is entering its fifth year operating as an independent public institution under the umbrella of the City of Ljubljana. According to the director Mateja Avbelj Valentan last year was successful. The arrival counters detected 1,190,441 visitors (61,392 more than the previous year). The funicular railway has since its start of operation – end of December 2006 – transported 2,480,947 passengers and in 2015 the highest number, 348,253 passengers, which is 9.51% more than the year before. Among buyers of tickets approximately the same percentage of domestic and foreign visitors was registered. Foreign visitors predominantly come from Italy, Great Britain, Germany, USA, France, Japan, Russia and Croatia.

During regular and irregular hours there were 1,216 guided tours of the Ljubljana Castle, the exhibition the Barbarism of Torture, the Permanent Exhibition of Slovenian History and the Museum of Puppetry, the Time Machine as part of the regular guided tour and numerous pedagogical programmes. Overall, 17,176 people were given a tour. In addition, in six months 10,789 audio guides were rented (namely, they were introduced during the main season, in July 2015).

In the field of culture and art 178 performances were put on last year. On 26 May 2015, the fifth permanent exhibition was opened – the Museum of Puppetry – a comprehensive presentation of the heritage and history of Slovenian puppetry dating back hundred years.

The marketing of cultural and tourist products of the Ljubljana Castle includes active participation in fairs, travel trade shows, workshops and events, among them fairs in Utrecht, Helsinki, Belgrade, workshops in Prague, Warsaw, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Brussels, London and Belgrade, and trade shows in Berlin and London, just to underline a few. In this area Ljubljana Castle is successfully cooperating with Ljubljana Tourism, together they complement what is on offer in the capital. They also participated in the world exhibition EXPO Milano; in addition to the general exhibition they also took part in the presentation of the most attractive wedding destinations in Slovenia.

Activities in the area of tourism have expanded to include new products: during the summer the innovative thematic guided tour of the temporary exhibition the Barbarism of Torture was offered with the audio guide system, enabling the visitors to learn about the history of the Ljubljana Castle in the Slovenian and eleven foreign languages; an upgrade of the successful guided tour of the Time Machine which is now available in six foreign languages, in addition to Slovenian and English; and the publication of an educational family guide book for independent exploration of the Ljubljana Castle, which the visitors receive with the purchase of the family ticket.