Address Grad 172 9264 Grad Telephone ++386 2 551-88-87 Fax ++386 2 551-88-86 Email obcina.grad@siol.net Website http://www.obcina-grad.si Population 2302 Size 37,39 km2 Mayor Cvetka Ficko

The village of Grad, the center of the present-day municipality, is the largest and oldest settlement in Goričko, first mentioned as Lyndwa, later as Gornja Lendava, and since 1952 called Grad (i.e. “castle”), after the medieval castle on the basalt hill.

During the Middle Ages it was the administrative center of Goričko and for many years also of Ravensko. Most of the population work in farming, and many also earn their daily bread by working across the border. A large number of associations take care of the manifold cultural, sports and tourism aspects of the municipality throughout the year, and everyone gets together for the municipality’s traditional celebration, Halloween.

The second largest annual event in the municipality is called Vel’ka meša, or the Kramar fair, which is held in the village center (“Pörgi”) on the holiday of the Assumption on August 15th. The municipality’s most appealing tourist attraction sits on the castle hill – the Grad castle, which is being restored due to its location and its historical role in the region’s development and its size, and it was selected as the most suitable location for the administrative and reception center of the Goričko-Raab-Örseg tri-lateral park.

The locals hope that the largest castle complex in Slovenia will be reborn as the center of the commercial, political and cultural life of the region. The castle’s courtyard is the site of a major energy point, where the radiating vibrations are said to be able to cure various ailments.

There are many natural attractions in the municipality as well as cultural and historical memorials. In the center of the village of Grad stands the pilgrimage Church of the Assumption, whose nave is the last work of the architect Joľe Plečnik, the hamlet of Kaniľa has a crypt or sepulcher, a white cross stands as a plague memorial on the road from Grad to Kruplivnik, there is the Pütar mill in Dolnji Slaveči, and a memorial plaque in memory of the Prekmurje Catholic writer Mikloš Küzmič in the hamlet of Kukojca.