Sights of Hrvatski Zagorje

Next to the church of St. Jurja in Gornja Stubica there is a more than 400-year-old Gupča lime tree, the only living witness of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1573. years.

Today, the linden has a height of 9m and a trunk girth of 4.70m, and its age and dimensions represent a natural rarity.
Since 1957 the lime tree was declared a natural monument and placed under state protection and is a protected cultural monument.

In order to preserve the gene pool of Gupčeva lipa, in 2011. the Living Archive of Gupčeva Lipa was founded.

The Sopotnica stream descends from the cave with a waterfall from a height of two meters into a lake approximately one meter deep and continues to flow calmly under the little bridge as a shallow stream that never dries up, so deep that a person can step over it. The story says that once upon a time the devil used to dine there, there were also copernicus and various witchcraft took place.

People were afraid to go that way, so they built a statue of St. Mihovil to protect them and dedicated the chapel in Sopot to St. Mihovil, the angel with the most power, who was the protector of caves and the only one able to oppose the devil. Through the stream, people pass it down from generation to generation, 200 years ago there was a red fire that burned, once for two days without interruption.
Science can still explain everything, so the red color comes from the red sky at sunset, and the roar of the waterfall and the so-called rock. the work of the devil. The place is a real pearl of nature, always open to everyone for socializing, without any charge, and as the locals say – just let everyone clean up after themselves.

North of Pregrada, in the Kunagora system is Kostelgrad, above the bend of the river Kosteljina.

It is located on the top of a hill covered with a white mountain forest, at an altitude of 427. The most prominent ruler of Kostelgrad was Petar Keglević. He achieved the greatest honor as a Croatian ban (1537-1542), and in addition to that, he also held numerous other positions and honors. He distinguished himself in the battles against the Turks. He acquired many estates throughout the kingdom, especially in Zagorje. Despite all the ups and downs, the family kept its headquarters in Kostelgrad, where Petar II. and died in 1554. and was buried in the parish church in Pregrada. It is he who is responsible for the tradition of firing a pistol for Easter “under Kostel”, a custom that proudly bears the status of a protected intangible asset of the Republic of Croatia.

Today, the fort is in ruins, but the walls are being consolidated, the project is financed by the Ministry of Culture. The fort is a favorite picnic spot with a beautiful view of the Sutinska valley, a narrow gap along the Kosteljina river through which the town of Pregrada is entered from the north. The approach to the fortress is easy and accessible from its northern side from the Kostel settlement.

The monument to the Peasants’ Revolt and Matija Gupac is a monumental sculptural composition by the author Antun Augustinčić and collaborators. Erected (1971 – 1973) in the memorial park near the Oršić castle in Gornja Stubica, which also houses the Peasants’ Uprising Museum. The monument in Samci, municipality of Gornja Stubica is a protected cultural asset.

The monument to the Seljačka Buna and Matija Gupac is located in the park of the Oršić Castle. The work of sculptor Antun Augustinčić and associates was created in the period from 1971. until 1973 years. It consists of two winged bronze reliefs on a stone plinth in front of which, in the central focal point, is a monumental bronze figure of Matija Gupca. The bronze statue of Petrica Kerempuh stands out on the edge. On the side reliefs are two triangular frames with figurative representations: on the left is a depiction of the Battle of Stubica, on the right is a depiction of everyday life in the 16th century. century. It was made using the technique of casting in bronze and carving in stone (green slate).

This composition is made of bronze and stone, size 40 mx 7.5 m, and the total area of ​​the relief on the monument is 180 m ² .

Cesargrad is a fortress in Hrvatska zagorje on the prominent ridge of Cesargradska gora above the town of Klanjec.
According to legend, the Cesargrad fortress was built by the Templars, a knightly order that in 1119 founded to protect pilgrims on their way to Jesus’ tomb in the Holy Land. On the opposite side, on the other side of the Sutla, at almost the same height of Bizeljska Gora, there is the rest of the Konigsberg fortress or, as the people of Klanj call it, Kunšperg, which is attributed to the same builders. The Order of the Templars was abolished in 1312, and their goods were assigned to other orders or became the property of the Crown.

Cesargrad (Kayersperg), on the prominent ridge of Cesarska gora, was mentioned for the first time in 1399. and that in the grant of King Sigismund, with which he presented Cesargrad to Count Herman of Celje. As the last of the family of Celje deaths in Belgrade in 1456. Cesargrad comes under the administration of the royal crown.

King Matthias Corvinus in 1463. presents Risvica, Tuhelj, Kraljevec na Sutla, Klanjec and Cesargrad to Andrija Baumkircher. His son Juraj had no heir, so he bequeathed all the property to his sister (married to Count Andrija Stubenberg) and to his friend, the Archbishop of Ostrogona and later to Cardinal Tomi Bakač. In the resulting litigation, Archbishop Toma Bakač managed to defend the ownership of Cesargrad.

That noble family was also the last owner of the Cesargrad fortress, which it abandoned in the middle of the 17th century. century, and moved to the newly built New Palaces of Cesargradska.

On the 29th January 1573 Cesargrad perished in the Seljačka Revolt when it was looted and set on fire. The Erdodys partially restore it, but with the construction of the New Castles of Klanječki (built by ban Toma Bakač Erdody in 1603), the Erdody family slowly moves to the new castle, and the Cesargrad fortress is allowed to slowly decay.

Dolina Zelenjak, i.e. part of the gorge that stretches between the river Sutla and the ridges of Risvička and Cesargradska gora, with an area of ​​about 50 ha, since 1949. Mr. it is protected as a natural rarity, and since 1961 Mr. as a natural area reserve – a forest park and a nature memorial. In 2011 there was a recategorization and a change of the borders of this protected area, which was extended to Risvička and Cesargradska gora, so its total area today is 287 ha, and it enjoys the category of significant landscape protection.

If you want to get to know this part of Zagorje’s natural heritage in more detail, you can take the educational hiking trail to Risvička Gora, where you can learn more about the local natural diversity by climbing to the top with the help of information panels. To get to know Cesargradska Gora, there is a hiking trail that leads to Cesargrad, also with educational boards that will draw the attention of nature lovers to the plant cover, animal life, geological structure and some other interesting things of this area.
One of the features of Risvička and Cesargradska gora is the diversity of habitats, which enabled this relatively small area to discover a rich flora and fauna, including many endangered species. The animal diversity is contributed by a very large number of species of day butterflies, beetles such as the common deer and woodpeckers, dragonflies, among which the king stands out, and a large number of bird species. As for the plant cover, Risvička and Cesargradska Gora are overgrown with splendiferous oak and hornbeam forests, honey oak and black hornbeam forests, and beech forests. A more attentive eye might also notice some protected and rare plants such as the Croatian iris, the Croatian carnation, the Carniola lily or the Pannonian clover, while a large number of orchid species live in the dry and sunny clearings, and it is through their example that we can glimpse biodiversity of this significant landscape.