Maruševec Castle (Croatia)

Maruševec Castle with its beauty and attractiveness is one of the greatest gems of Croatian Zagorje, along the castle Trakošćan and the great Tabor. Today's appearance is just a pale picture of the splendor of this ancient medieval fort whose history was already recorded in the middle of the 14th century, when this area was a family nest of Vragovic noblemen. It is probable that at that time there was a wooden court at the site of today's castle, which during its 600 years of existence changed its appearance several times. Somewhere in the 16th century a stone walled castle was built, which was protected by a water shield (Wasserburg), which was a protection against frequent Turkish invasions in these areas.

In the 17th century the city was built and its present appearance was acquired in the 19th century, when the new owner, Count Schlippenbach, had just restored and built a large tower. The interior of the castle was then lavishly decorated with timeless furnishings. The walls were covered with large tapisers and paintings by famous European painters from the 17th and 18th centuries. A good part of these oil on canvas is now in the Varaždin Museum, where it is the most valuable part of the fundraiser of the oldest painters. Soon after the restoration and restoration of the castle, the new owner became a nobleman Oskar Pongratz. He was a great fan of painting, and he enriched the existing picture gallery with a large picture collection of flowers motifs (Blumenstücke), some of which were still preserved in the Varaždin Museum. The castle is surrounded by a beautiful garden with several examples of rare trees, especially pine trees. Within the garden there was a beautifully landscaped lake, and in front of the front of the castle there was a beautiful fountain (fountain).

In progress II. World War II the castle was devastated, almost destroyed, and many of its valuables have disappeared from it. After the war it was used as a children's home, and since 1969 he has been renting an adventist religious community that has invested a lot in its restoration. Nevertheless, he never reached that splendor and glamor as he once had during Schlippenbach or Oskar Pongratz. Today, the castle is handled by the municipality of Maruševec and strives to find a renter who would invest in his restoration and to enter the castle of new facilities and made it the basis of the future development of high tourism in this beautiful area.

As part of the Maruševec Castle there is a beautiful park, which is only part of the former spacious English garden as it was before the Second World War when it was 7 hectares. The time of the foundry is unknown, although it is assumed that it was already in the second half of the 18th century. Since that time, the castle and its surroundings have been depicted in the book Status familiae Patacich. Data show that the perivoj got the present izged sometime around 1884, after the idea of ​​Schlippenbach's countenance, the entire castle was thoroughly restored, rebuilt and overthrown by the towers. In front of the front of the castle there was a large decorative garden with a fountain in the middle. In the park, shaped by a famous Dutch master whose name was not preserved, there was a multitude of exotic coniferous trees (chalky peppers, Greek pines). A part of the garden was affected by the agrarian reform, now ruined and converted into meadows and oranges. Today, Maruševec is a protected horticultural monument, but only a few multicolored specimens of coniferous trees and whitewashed trees remind of its former splendor.