Template:Wp-Novo Mesto-History

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Novo Mesto has been settled since pre-history. The city is one of the most important archeological sites of the Hallstatt culture (Early Iron Age) in Europe and has been nicknamed the "City of Situlas" after numerous situlas found in the area. Graben Castle on the Krka River, ancestral seat of the noble House of Graben von Stein, was first mentioned in an 1170 deed. The town itself was founded by the Habsburg archduke Rudolf IV of Austria on 7 April 1365 as Rudolfswerth. The Austrian Habsburgs received the Carniolan March from the hands of Louis IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Italy and Duke of Bavaria, in 1335 and in 1364 Rudolf "the Founder" proclaimed himself a Duke of Carniola.

During World War II, the city was controlled by Fascist Italy as part of the Province of Ljubljana until Mussolini's downfall in 1943. It was then occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war.

In 1958, the authorities of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had a motorway built connecting the Slovenian capital Ljubljana and Zagreb in Croatia, which passed through Novo Mesto. The A2 motorway is today part of the European route E70. With its construction, Novo Mesto became much better connected to the rest of Slovenia and the rest of Yugoslavia, and began to grow as an important regional center.