Krapina is a town in northwestern Croatia. It is the capital of Krapina-Zagorje County.
The town of Krapina is the central place of Hrvatsko Zagorje. It
is located along the river Krapinčica. The very name of the city is
closely related to the name of the river that once abounded in
freshwater carp. In the Kajkavian dialect, the carp fish is called
carp.
The history of the human race in Krapina dates back to
the distant past from 120,000 to 50,000 years, as evidenced by the
remains of Neanderthal man on the hill Hušnjakovo in the western
part of Krapina.
Roman finds were found in the suburb of
Krapina in Mihaljekov jarak.
The first written documents
mention Krapina in 1193. In the Middle Ages, there was a fortress
Krapina at the foot of which a settlement began to develop. The fort
itself and the then manor were royal estates. From the 14th century,
some noble families began to receive it. At that time, by royal
charter, Krapina became a free market. In the first half of the 16th
century, the noble family Keglević bought the manor of Krapina and
moved to Croatia at the height of the then largest Turkish
invasions. Noble families were the protectors of church orders, so
in Krapina in the 17th century Franciscans appeared who built the
church of St. Catherine and the Franciscan monastery. During the
18th century, votive pilgrimage churches dedicated to the miraculous
Madonnas were built in Zagorje, so a famous church on Trški vrh was
built in Krapina. In the 19th century, at the time of the awakening
of national consciousness and the founding of the Croatian literary
language, Ljudevit Gaj, the ideological leader of the Croatian
National Revival, was born in Krapina.
The legend of the
Czech, Lech and Meh
This famous legend, according to the Krapina
folklore, was written down by Ljudevit Gaj around 1851/1852. years.
The story reads as follows: On these three hills that rise above
this place (Krapina) were three cities. This one, since when have
all these old walls been refrained from, has been called since time
immemorial, and so has the present day, as well as the place of
Krapina itself. On that hill, there above the Franciscan church,
there was a town called Psar, and there above the lord's (spahin's)
mill, on the hill Šabac, there was a town of the same name Šabac. In
these three cities, three brothers, named Cech, Lech and Meh, once
ruled. These three brothers were of the royal blood of our (Slavic)
people and had a sister, who was called Vilina. At that time, the
Romans ruled this country. From them, our people suffered a lot for
the trouble and endured great forces. The knightly brethren agreed
among themselves, that they might be kidnapped under the heavy yoke
of Rome. As the oldest people narrated, between the town of Krapina
and Psar, a leather hang hung on chains. On this bridge, brother
came to his brother for secret agreements. Then their sister was in
secret (secret) love with the Roman chief, who commanded this land.
When the brothers agreed with the other famous chiefs of the people
and united with a curse (conspiracy) against the Romans and candled
that they would strike at them in unison, the Fairy, intoxicated
with too much love, gave the curse to her lover. However, the
besiegers hit him and killed him, and she first fled to Dupljača in
Strahinje, and from there to Jama nad Žutnicom, which are still
called Ljubine or Vulina Jama, because the fairies who defended them
lived there. they received their namesake. There she gave birth to a
gentleman's child. A short time later, when she was sunbathing in
front of the cave, the brothers, hunting, noticed her, took her to
the town of Krapina and built her in the tower, which is above the
door of the second yard near the cave pub, in one corner, and from
the child her peculiar miracle is created. The wild ox, one day when
the fairies in the woods had dispersed, ran into the cave, where the
child was playing with a golden apple. The wild man ran into him,
picked him up on the horns and jumped wildly through the underground
road, which led under the mountains of Veliki Žlieb and Hajdinski
Zrn, and on the other side he took him out into the woods, where a
hermit buried him. the place from that time until today, after the
beautiful head of this child, is called Lijepa Glava - Lepoglava.
The Romans, in order to avenge the murder of their officer and to
subdue the rebellious people, began to buy an army from all sides.
The three brothers, seeing that they could not with as much force as
they were going up to Zagorje, where they had encamped, nor with too
much courage to resist, gathered all the elders, prefects and
captains of the people, lit candles - decided to leave their
homeland with all their excellent supporters. and to emigrate
entirely from the Roman state. They knew that the people of our
(Slavic) language stretched far across the Danube, and so they
crossed the Danube with their faithful, so they split up on three
sides and founded three Slavic states. The Czech raised his chair in
the land of Bohemia, Lech in Poland, and the Muscovites (Russians)
got their start from Meh. And so the true root of all our Slavic
people came out of this environment of ours.
Church of the Mother of God of Jerusalem on Trški vrh
The
church on Trški Vrh is one of the most beautiful baroque churches in
this part of Croatia. It was built from 1750 to 1761, and was built
by pious citizens and peasants as their votive church. The church
was built to house the miraculous statue of Mary brought from
Jerusalem, which helped many people in their illness even before the
church was built. and difficulties - so people considered him
miraculous. The church was consecrated on August 13, 1761 and to
this day it is a gathering place for pilgrims - a place of vows. The
church inspires with the beauty of its interior, richly crafted
altars, art paintings and the rare organ by master Anton Romero of
Graz. Around the church there is a cinktura built in the shape of an
octagon, and in each corner there is a small tower for the chapel.
Cinktura is a place of procession, a place of individual prayers and
preparation for the spiritual fulfillment of vows. Pardons are held
every year from May to October.
Old Town
Of the Krapina
medieval fortress on the hill above Krapina, only one building has
been preserved, which once housed the permanent exhibition "Croatian
Medieval Ban and Parliament Town of Krapina", where movable
archeological finds included in the excavations are on display.
Later, the exhibition was moved to the Krapina City Gallery.
Birth house of Ljudevit Gaj
The nineteenth century is a time of
creation and awakening of national consciousness and the process of
integration of the Croatian nation. The Croatian literary language
and a new spelling are established. The ideological leader of the
Croatian national revival was Dr. Ljudevit Gaj, who was born in
Krapina in 1809. Gaj publishes the spelling and begins publishing
the newspaper and literary supplement "Danica".
Krapina City
Gallery
One of the most famous houses built before the end of the
19th century in Krapina is the house of the Majcen family of
lawyers. Many eminent personalities visited it: Josip Juraj
Strossmayer, Ante Starčević, and Dr. Vlatko Maček was a trainee
lawyer with Dr. Josip Majcen. Descendants of the Majcen family,
daughters Zdenka and Nada donated the house to the city to have a
gallery in it. The gallery was opened on the occasion of the 800th
anniversary of the city and various exhibitions are held in it.
Prehistoric site and Museum of Krapina Neanderthals
In
paleoanthropology, fossil finds from Croatia occupy a significant
place. Among them are the most significant remains of a prehistoric
Neanderthal type from Krapina who lived in the Old Stone Age. Over
800 pieces of bones and teeth were collected from the deposits of
the semi-cave in Krapina, Hušnjakovo brdo, making it one of the
richest paleoanthropological sites in the world in terms of the
number of osteological remains. Scientific explanations for the
existence of the Krapina prehistoric man were given by Professor
Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger after six years of excavation. The
cave man from Krapina was small to medium height, low forehead,
thick supraspinatus bones, strong teeth and a protruding lower part
of the face. He knew fire, he lived by hunting. Many fossil remains
of animals were also found: cave bears, wild cattle, giant deer,
salmon, beavers, rhinos and others. He was a completely natural
being fused with his environment and his culture and did not
transcend nature. Today, Hušnjakovo hill is an oasis of greenery. In
the open space is the reconstruction of the Krapina prehistoric man
and his family, as well as the reconstruction of some animals from
his time. Within the complex, on the hill Josipovac, there is a
sculpture park Forma Prima, about forty sculptures in oak wood by
famous sculptors from our country and neighboring countries. The
sculptures merge with the natural environment in which they are
located.
Franciscan monastery and church of St. Catherine
Church of St. Catherine and the Franciscan monastery are over 350
years old. Stylistically, the construction of the Krapina monastery
belongs to the early Baroque period. The monastery has a rare
collection of sacred art and a library founded in 1650, rich in rare
books, the most important of which are three incunabula. Concerts of
sacred music have been held in the church for several years.
Parish Church of St. Nicholas
Parish Church of St. Nikola was
first mentioned in 1311, later destroyed by an earthquake in the
19th century, and rebuilt according to the design of Josip Vancaš on
the old foundations at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Nikola is also the protector of the city and the parish.