Maribor's first defence walls were built between 1255 and 1275, soon after the city was granted town privileges and consequently the right to build a wall.
Four walls, each some 500 m long, closed off an area of 25 ha between the Drava River and today’s Strossmayerjeva, Gregorčičeva and Ulica škofa Maksimilijana Držečnika streets. The original wall was eight and nine metres high and about one meter thick. The top of the wall was lined with a parapet with merlons and had a covered corridor on the inner side. The 13th century wall was built without towers, which were added in several stages from the 14th century onward.