Accordingly, the number of visitors taking the castle funicular reached a new record as well, as over 500,000 people took the ride up castle hill, up more than a fifth from the year before.

The castle hosted 530 events last year and its main tourist season is expanding. In eight months of the year, the number of visitors exceeded 100,000.

The castle funicular took its three millionth passenger to the castle hill in May, while a new daily record was recorded on 9 December with 3,428 visitors.

Almost 30% of the castle visitors last year were Slovenians, while others came from Italy, the UK, Germany, US, Spain, France, Korea, the Netherlands and Croatia.

The institute managing Ljubljana Castle expects the 2017 revenue to reach EUR 5m.