Trakošćan Castle

Trakošćan stands on a wooded hill above a small lake in the north of Zagorje, and it looks the way people expect a castle to look, which is not an accident. The core is medieval, but the Drašković family remodelled it in the middle of the nineteenth century in romantic neo-Gothic taste, adding towers and battlements and landscaping the grounds with the lake dug out below. Inside is a furnished museum of period rooms, family portraits, armour, a hunting collection and a great deal of dark wood. A level path circles the lake in about an hour, which is what many local visitors come for as much as the house.

History

Trakošćan was built in the 13th century as a small watch fort on the road from Ptuj to the Bednja valley, part of the defences of north-western Croatia; legend links its name with an ancient fort, arx Thacorum, or with the knights of Drachenstein. The name is first written in 1334. By the end of the 14th century it belonged to the Counts of Celje; after their line died out it passed through several hands - the commander Jan Vitovac, then Ivaniš Korvin, who gave it to his deputy Ivan Gyulay, whose family held it for three generations until it died out in 1566. King Maximilian then granted it to Juraj Drašković (1525-1587), and in 1584 the Drašković family took possession. Abandoned and falling into ruin in the second half of the 18th century, it was revived in the mid-19th century, when Juraj V Drašković turned the fort into a residence in the romantic spirit and the grounds into a landscape park. The museum was opened in 1953 (Wikipedia, Trakošćan Castle).

What to look for

• The furnished interiors - period rooms, family portraits, armour and hunting trophies over several floors.
• The lake path - a level circuit of a few kilometres around the water below the castle.
• The park - nineteenth-century landscaping with specimen trees on the slopes.
• The approach view - the classic sight of the castle on its wooded hill from the far side of the lake.

When to go

Spring for the woods and autumn for the colour on the hills, both better than midsummer weekends when Zagreb empties into Zagorje. The castle keeps longer hours from April to October, and mornings are quieter than afternoons. Winter is atmospheric but the interiors are cold and the lake path can be icy.

Before you go

The romantic exterior is largely nineteenth-century stage dressing, and visitors expecting a genuine medieval fortress find the interiors closer to a country house. Rooms are crowded at weekends and the route is one-way with little space to pause. Parking is below and the climb up is steep. Signage inside is mostly Croatian, with a printed English sheet.

Nearby

Varaždin and its baroque centre are about forty minutes east, with Krapina south down the same valley.

Key facts