Orsic Castle, Gornja Stubica, Croatia

Orsic Castle was built in 1756 by Croatian count Krsto Oršić (1718–1782) on the site of a previous fortress from the Middle Ages and designed in an L-shaped ground plan. From the backyard side, both the wings are open in arcades that follow the line of the corridor, while the outside frontage is quite simple, with rhythmically aligned windows and a few rustic details in the corners.

After a large earthquake in the 19th century, a classicist porch with a tympanum and Doric columns was added to the castle. Inside there is a well-preserved chapel with illusionist murals and an illustrated baroque altar.

Besides this castle, the Oršić family owned a large number of other castles, palaces and estates in Croatia, among which the most significant were castles Gornja Bistra at Zaprešić, Slavetić at Jastrebarsko, Jurketinec at Varaždin and palaces in Zagreb and Varaždin.

The castle was the feudal residence of the Oršić family, until the last members relocated in 1924. A primary school was situated in a part of the castle for some time after that, and a local peasant's cooperative society as well. At the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies, the castle was thoroughly renewed and transformed into a Museum of the Peasants' revolt, which deals with a tragic event that occurred in 1573 in this area.

Around the castle there is a park with a huge monument dedicated to the Peasants' revolt and to its leader Matija Gubec, made by a prominent Croatian sculptor Antun Augustinčić.

References:

Wikipedia

Castles and fortifications in Croatia

User Reviews

MANO Business Consulting (8 months ago)
Need to go, beautiful landscape

Dragica Blažunaj (12 months ago)
Interesting to look at☺️?

Mladen Krusarovski (15 months ago)
Jako zanimljivo i vrlo poučno mjesto

M. Ban (2 years ago)
Beautiful castle surrounded by large park. Historical heritage worth to visit. During the summer concerts take place there, and festivities to remake an old days of lifestyle. Excellent events for the visitors. I recommend it.

Ivan Tandara (2 years ago)
Disaster.Where are those former times. Excavated yard, no catering .....

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

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At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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