Castles of Croatia

Januševec – Baron Vrkljan's Classicist manor house

Januševec manor is deemed the pinnacle of Croatian Classicist architecture. It is also considered one of the most prominent examples of the reconstructed architectural heritage of Croatia due to having undergone extensive renovation after being demolished in 1945 during the war.

The manor house is located in the village of Prigorje Brdovečko near Zaprešić, 20 km from the centre of Zagreb. It is situated at the junction of the Zagorje hills and the Sava River valley, providing a stunning view of the valley and the Samobor Highlands in the distance. The spatial and architectural integrity and the integrity of form of the manor house, auxiliary buildings and gardens, along with the pronounced single-axis composition, is quite prominent.The small landscape garden (area: 2.6 ha) was built originally in the Biedermeier style with planted flowers.

The dimensions of the manor house in plan view are 40x30 m, with a circular hall surrounded by numerous rooms occupying the central position. The Classicist-style façades boast sumptuous treatment and plasticity. The altan on the south façade, the entry portico with an architrave and pediment on the north façade, as well as the loggia and pilasters on the west and east façades, respectively, make the façades highly dynamic. The manor house comprises four tiers: basement, first ground floor, second ground floor, first floor.

The noble estate had existed since the Middle Ages. The manor house was constructed on the site of a previous country house owned by the Counts Kulmer and Sermage. Count Josip Vrkljan (1777 - 1849) bought the estate in 1829 and erected the manor house. He had recently returned from Italy where he retired as a military officer in the Austrian army and the state secretary of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza at the court of Marie-Louise, the second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte I. The manor house was purchased in 1845 by Count Corberon (1807 – 1861), a French politician residing in Croatia. After that, the manor changed owners several times. In 1984, a portion of the archives from the Croatian State Archives were moved to Januševec manor and are still housed there.

Lovrečina – a Neo-Renaissance manor house built on the foundations of a Renaissance castle

Lovrečina is a manor house located in the plains, 40 km north-east of Vrbovec and 40 km east of Zagreb. It was named after the nearby Church of St. Lawrence (Lovro), which was first attested to in the 14th century. The feudal estate and castle were mentioned here first in the 13th and 16th centuries, respectively. Coloman's Road, which passed by Lovrečina, led from Hungary across Koprivnica, Križevci and Zagreb to the Adriatic Sea.

In that ancient time, the Lovreč estate went through various owners and lords. In the 18th century it belonged to the Orehoczy, Drašković, Kiš and Fodroczy families, followed by the Counts Patačić and the Farkaš family in the 19th century. Lovrečina was bought in 1879 by the French general Tomasini, who moved to Croatia after the fall of Napoleon. His compatriot and friend Marquis de Piennes owned the nearby manor house and estate in Vrbovec and purchased Lovrečina after Tomasini in 1909, granting it to the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity in Zagreb, which are still in possession of the manor house. The Congregation also owns the Lužnica manor house west of Zagreb.

Fragments of a Renaissance castle first mentioned in 1540, which was part of a fortification system against the Ottomans, are still hidden in the present-day manor. It was never occupied by the Ottomans, although it was damaged during the Peasant Revolt in 1755. Afterwards, the castle was renovated and extended, and its L-shaped layout was transformed into a four-winged manor with a courtyard, which was typical of the Renaissance period. The manor house underwent several architectural modifications: some of the wings were torn down, the auxiliary buildings were extended, and the entire estate was refurbished. The manor house was renovated, enlarged and acquired its U-shaped layout in the late 19th century. This was the last major overhaul applied to the manor, after which it received its Neo-Renaissance features that have been preserved until today.

The manor house did not have a garden. Its omission was compensated by a picturesque agricultural and natural landscape in the immediate and extended surroundings.

Lužnica – Baron Rauch's Baroque manor house

The Lužnica manor house is located in the Sava River Valley west of Zaprešić and 20 km west of the centre of Zagreb. It was constructed in the 18th century on a previously existing estate. Lužnica is a three-winged single-floor manor house influenced by the Austrian Baroque. The façades boast Late Baroque features with decorative corner towers and recognisable male and female busts above the window. Only a few original interior fixtures have been preserved, such as the masonry stove dating back to the second half of the 19th century and the Late Baroque built-in closets with hand-carved doors.

The manor house is situated in a large early-19th century 8-hectare park. It boasted features of English landscape architecture, with the surrounding meadows and fields inspiring park vedute. The manor house with a park, auxiliary buildings and a kitchen garden and orchard create a mostly preserved whole, in terms of function and form, of high ambient value.

In the 18th century, Lužnica was owned by Baron Pavle Rauch, who thoroughly renovated and perhaps even extended the manor in 1791. After that, it was the residence of the Rauch family, which was of German and Saxon heritage. It was famous for producing pro-Hungarian Croatian viceroys who often caused scandals and went down in history as reviled among the people. The most prominent family member was Levin Rauch, the founder of the pro-Hungarian Unionist Party in Croatia, also known as the "settlement" viceroy, who imposed a settlement with the Hungarians on the Croatian Parliament during his mandate (1868 - 1871).

The Rauch family lived in the manor house until 1925, when the entire estate was purchased by St. Vincent de Paul's Congregation of the Sisters of Charity, which founded a monastery in the manor, where nuns have lived for eight decades. The new monastery building was built on the site of the former auxiliary buildings in 2005 and in 2007, the manor was revamped as the Mary's Court Spiritual and Educational Centre, which is a venue for social, educational, cultural and tourism events.

Oršić – Counts' Oršić Baroque manor house in Gornja Bistra

The magnitude and architectural excellence of the manor house in Gornja Bistra represents an unparalleled feat in the construction of manor houses and arguably one of the most valuable Baroque manor houses in Croatia. It is situated on a hill on the northwest slopes of Medvednica. Its main façade faces north toward a long access alley.

The three-winged manor house has a U-shaped layout, which was common for Baroque manors. The rooms line the façade and the arcade hallway extends into the courtyard. The originally preserved oval central hall and chapel are the spatial and architectural centrepieces of the manor house. The hall walls and dome are adorned with illusionist mythological paintings by an unknown artist dating back to 1778. Diana, the goddess of hunting and the Moon, and Apollo, the god of the Sun and a symbol of youthful beauty, sit on the clouds painted on the dome. The statues of Jupiter, Venus, Diana and Cronus comprise the main composition of the lower part of the hall. The rococo inventory of the Chapel of St. Joseph and Baroque-period paintings. The emporium and the choir/oratorium with organs also stand out.

A large park was erected next to the manor house according to a plan dating back to the late 18th century. The park's design is distinguished by an architectural landscape style and a Baroque feel due to the access route that leads to the manor's entrance in the north façade. The manor house was erected by Vice-Marshal Count Krsto Oršić II between 1770 and 1775, which was considered a grand-scale construction project at the time. The Oršićs were a prominent noble family of Croatian origin that possessed numerous castles, palaces and estates in Croatian Zagorje. They owned the most beautiful Baroque palace in Zagreb, the present-day Croatian History Museum.

The Oršićs were in possession of the castle until the mid-19th century, when it was bought by the Carion family from Paris, which lived there until 1936. From 1950 until today, it has doubled as the building of the Special Hospital for Children's Diseases.

Member of the Academy Mladen Obad Šćitaroci
Bojana Bojanić Obad Šćitaroci, PhD