Among the visitors recorded on the basis of tickets sold, nearly 76% came from abroad, foremost Italy, the UK, Germany, the US, South Korea, France and Spain.

The funicular transported over 590,000 visitors from the city to the castle last year, up 9.5% over 2018, the public institute running the castle has said in a release.

A milestone came on 5 April, when the 4 millionth visitor was taken to the castle since the funicular was launched at the end of 2006.

The castle featured 610 events, including an exhibition of acclaimed costume designer Alan Hranitelj, which earned him one of this year's national Prešeren Fund Prizes.

The castle's cafe and the gallery were renovated and a new permanent exhibition on castle weapons launched.

A new wine cellar opened as wine from the castle's vineyard was bottled for the first time last year.

The castle organised over 1,200 various guided tours for more than 17,600 visitors.

Its Escape Castle, an adventure game modelled on escape room experience, was played by almost 6,200 people.

Ljubljana Castle plans to launch a new tourist product involving wine this year as a prelude to Slovenia turning into the European Region of Gastronomy in 2021.