 Maribor National Hall was built in 1899, and it became a political, cultural, and economic centre for all Styrian Slovenes.In 1900, the city itself had a population that was 82.3% Austrian German (19,298 people) and 17.3% Slovene (4,062 people; based on the language spoken at home); most of the city's capital and public life was in Austrian German hands.However, the county excluding the city had only 10,199 Austrian Germans and 78,888 Slovene inhabitants, meaning the city was completely surrounded by majority-Slovene ethnic territory.