Samobor Castle (Croatia)

Samobor's old town was built between 1260 and 1264 by the supporters of Czech king Otokar II, who at that time extended its power to the Adriatic Sea. The king wanted to establish and strengthen the old frontier, and above the merchant Samobor he raised the fortification. Throughout the centuries the city has changed many owners. They are mentioned: Babonići, Counts Celjski, King Matija Korvin, Barbara Frankopan, Ivan Hening Susedgradski, Ungnad family, Erdödy family, Auersperg family; Through the 19th century, the Old Town is owned by the Kulmer, Kiepach and Allnoch family, and for the last owners of the Montecuccoli family, the city is in a very bad state.

Since the city has not lived in the city since the end of the 18th century, the roofs are overgrown, the floors gradually collapsed and the walls are covered with rain, snow and ice.

The construction of a five-o'clock tower did not significantly strengthen the defensive power of the city itself. It could protect the entrance to the slope leading to Rudama (Rudarska draga) and access to the west side of the city. With its stretched position and size it was in some way a warning to the citizens of the Samobor merchant with whom the feudalists of the Old Town constantly clashed. The greater danger was threatened from the south side of the city, with the slopes of Mount Tepec, which surpasses the entire Old City. The walls of the northern tower were 18 meters high, and due to the heavy fall of the tower, the tower has a high base above which are topographical openings and loopholes on the first floor, and the second floor have larger window openings.

While Mr Ivica Sudnik, one of the founders of the Samobor Museum, was alive, he mentioned (and Mrs. Ivanka Brekalo noted) that larger pieces of architectural plastic found during the works led by Tihomil Stahuljak in 1942 and 1943 were buried inside the northern five- tower-bastions. Based on these statements, the Conservation Department of Zagreb (Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia) funded the works that took place in November 2009.

Since 1902, the municipality of Samobor owns the ruins of the Old Town along with 27 acres of forests, when ŠIŠMIŠ Športsko društvo was founded in Samobor, which in the first years of its existence was oriented towards sport and hiking, and later to the preservation of the Old Town ruins and to "promote sociability ". In 1910, they were granted permission to rebuild a five-o'clock tower. Their goal was to reconstruct the tower in its entirety and arrange the first museum there. In Samobor, wooden roofing materials were constructed in Samobor, with the intention of carrying out the works next year, but thanks to an exceptionally beautiful autumn, it was possible to do it until the beginning of November. In order to avoid damaging the sculpture of the ruins, the five-o'clock cul-de-sac has a tilted roof, which is also contemplated for the lookout. After the enormous efforts of the walls were repaired, in the middle of the tower, a pillar was built, in which part of the flat roof structure, made of large section beams, which was made and finally poured with concrete. After ten years, everything that "Šišmišovci" made, was destroyed and blown.