Durdevac Castle, Đurđevac, Croatia

Đurđevac castle and old town was built by the Bishop of Pécs, most probably around 1488. The town, or fort, was built on high ground in the middle of a swamp to the north of the town of Đurđevac in Croatia, because of the threat of the Turkish, and constant conflicts between the nobility. The height of the tower is aroun 9 m.

References:

Wikipedia

Address

Starogradska ulica 28, Đurđevac, Croatia

See all sites in Đurđevac

Details

Founded: 1488
Category: Castles and fortifications in Croatia

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby

Pejacevic Palace (33,9 km)
Monument to the Revolution of the People of Moslavina (50,3 km)
Lepavina Monastery (30,6 km)
Garic (52 km)

User Reviews

Sasa S (5 months ago)
Someting new (old) in town of Djurdjevac

Damir Živković (2 years ago)
Nice and authentically decorated castle!

STEM (2 years ago)
Looks beautiful and, for most, story about picoki is amazing!

Karlo Balog (2 years ago)
This fortress built in the 14C and enlarged in the 16C has a massive square tower topped with a wooden pinnacle, flanked by huge buttressed ramparts. The irregularly shaped interior, with two floors of wooden galleries, is strikingly airy in contrast. On the ground-floor is a restaurant where you can see the vaulted ceilings. The upper floors are now home to a museum (note the fine timberwork) and an exhibition gallery. According to local legends, the site was never captured by the Ottomans thanks to a cockerel. In exhibition gallery now is after Picasso and Chagall, Salvador Dali.

jelena benak (2 years ago)
Love it. Always so beautiful to come and have a nice family night dinner at the castle restaurant. Get to see beautiful animals. such as camels, goats, donkeys, pigs, chickens, pheasants, llamas, and horses for a very cheap price of 20 kunas per person. Love the atmosphere and environment!

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Giåm

Historic Site of the week

Glimmingehus

Glimmingehus, is the best preserved medieval stronghold in Scandinavia. It was built 1499-1506, during an era when Scania formed a vital part of Denmark, and contains many defensive arrangements of the era, such as parapets, false doors and dead-end corridors, 'murder-holes' for pouring boiling pitch over the attackers, moats, drawbridges and various other forms of death traps to surprise trespassers and protect the nobles against peasant uprisings. The lower part of the castle's stone walls are 2.4 meters (94 inches) thick and the upper part 1.8 meters (71 inches).

Construction was started in 1499 by the Danish knight Jens Holgersen Ulfstand and stone-cutter-mason and architect Adam van Düren, a North German master who also worked on Lund Cathedral. Construction was completed in 1506.

Ulfstand was a councillor, nobleman and admiral serving under John I of Denmark and many objects have been uncovered during archeological excavations that demonstrate the extravagant lifestyle of the knight's family at Glimmingehus up until Ulfstand's death in 1523. Some of the most expensive objects for sale in Europe during this period, such as Venetian glass, painted glass from the Rhine district and Spanish ceramics have been found here. Evidence of the family's wealth can also be seen inside the stone fortress, where everyday comforts for the knight's family included hot air channels in the walls and bench seats in the window recesses. Although considered comfortable for its period, it has also been argued that Glimmingehus was an expression of "Knighthood nostalgia" and not considered opulent or progressive enough even to the knight's contemporaries and especially not to later generations of the Scanian nobility. Glimmingehus is thought to have served as a residential castle for only a few generations before being transformed into a storage facility for grain.

An order from Charles XI to the administrators of the Swedish dominion of Scania in 1676 to demolish the castle, in order to ensure that it would not fall into the hands of the Danish king during the Scanian War, could not be executed. A first attempt, in which 20 Scanian farmers were ordered to assist, proved unsuccessful. An additional force of 130 men were sent to Glimmingehus to execute the order in a second attempt. However, before they could carry out the order, a Danish-Dutch naval division arrived in Ystad, and the Swedes had to abandon the demolition attempts. Throughout the 18th century the castle was used as deposit for agricultural produce and in 1924 it was donated to the Swedish state. Today it is administered by the Swedish National Heritage Board.

On site there is a museum, medieval kitchen, shop and restaurant and coffee house. During summer time there are several guided tours daily. In local folklore, the castle is described as haunted by multiple ghosts and the tradition of storytelling inspired by the castle is continued in the summer events at the castle called "Strange stories and terrifying tales".

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Durdevac Castle