Tuši's blog: 13377

Croatia: New Year Time In Hrvatsko Zagorje - Mansions and Ethno village - New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve we decided to be in our weekend house in Croatia. On our third day we decided to visit some mansions and an ethno village in Kumrovec.

First we visited mansion Mali Tabor in Hrvatsko Zagorje, located 3 km west of Hum na Sutli, near the Croatian-Slovenian border on Sotla river. Mali Tabor is a monument that bears the features of a Renaissance manor and early baroque castle.

As opposed to its bigger brother castle Veliki Tabor which is a great example of restaurated cultural heritage, Mali Tabor is seriously endangered cultural heritage. Built in 15th. century, it was originally a renaissance castle, through its history it got also early-baroque elements.

Inside the Mali Tabor castle

Even though older, the mansion Mali Tabor was mentioned in written sources for the first time by the end of the 15th century. In the records of the Ratkaj family there is no information, which would point to its time of construction and the constructors with precision. From the second half of the 13th century, the nearby aristocratic town of Vrbovec had been the residence of the nobility of Vrbovec or Veliki Tabor. With the fall of this town by mid-15th century, the mansion Mali Tabor took over the function of residence. From 1490 to 1504 it was in the ownership of the Croatian-Hungarian Ban Ivaniš Korvin. For almost three centuries, it was governed by the powerful Hungarian family Rattkay (1524 − 1793). In the course of their reign, by the end of the 17th century, the Renaissance mansion was remodelled into a two-winged castle with an inner yard and four cylindrical towers. From this castle, the west and north defence walls have been preserved. In the 19th century, it was upgraded into a one-story baroque castle, when the north defence wall of the castle was demolished, and the space between the economic building and the annex of the east castle wing gained a new entrance portal which has been preserved until present day.

We moved on to the direction of Veliki Tabor castle. First we stopped by the road, where there is one small village, populated by very small people, who live in small castles, that can be found in normal size in the area.

Mini village with the real castle Veliki Tabor behind

Some of the owners

Miniature castles from Hrvatsko Zagorje in one place

Massage chair

Veliki Tabor is a castle and museum in northwest Croatia, dating from the 12th century. The castle's present appearance dates back to the 16th century.

Most of the castle was built by the Croatian noble family of Rattkay, in whose ownership it remained until 1793.

Toilet was the only warm place and we used it wisely.

The collections in the exhibition spaces include old vehicles, ethnographic items, the first manufacture of medicines, swords and armour, paintings and pottery, as well as a presentation of the noble Ratkaj family who used to own the castle.

We continued by Miljana castle to ethno village in Kumrovec.

Miljana Baroque Castle

In the west part of Krapina-Zagorje County, in the village of Kumrovec, you will find the Old Village Museum (Kumrovec Ethno Village), a unique outdoor museum with preserved original village houses from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Entrance ticket for Ethno village

The history of the Old Village began by the mounting of the monument in front of the birth house of Josip Broz Tito in 1948. The place where the former president of Yugoslavia, a war hero and one of the most popular leaders on the global political scene in the second half of the 20th century now offers a museum with a historical and ethnological collection.

In the kitchen

Rok, Tuši, Nada, Žiga, Vid, Tanja and Borut with Josip Broz Tito

Around 40 more residential, farming and ancillary buildings were subsequently renovated in the village. The visitors can se the permanent ethnological collections of the traditional lifestyle from the late 19th century, such as: Zagorje Wedding, The Life of a Young Married Couple, From Hemp to Canvass, The Blacksmith’s Trade, Wagon-Maker’s Trade, Pottery, From Grain to Bread …

After a couple of beers we returned back to the weekend house, where we started cooking dinner and made all the preparations for the longest night. Cheers!