City Krapina

A town in the valley of the Krapinica river in Croatian Zagorje offers visitors a partly preserved medieval fortress, baroque Franciscan monastery, churches and many other famous old buildings, and especially lavish museums.

A festival of Kajkavian (ethnic) music is held annually. It was inhabited in prehistoric times, and first mentioned in 1193.

Among the cultural monuments the birth house of the writer and politician Ljudevit Gaj, the collection of Friars Monastery, the museum of evolution and the protected monuments. The church Godmother of Jerusalem should be mentioned. Today it is a reasonably developed town, boasting its festival kajkavskih popevki sung in the local Kajkavian dialect of the Croatian language.

Hrvatsko Zagorje encloses the Krapina basin, the eastern side of the Sutla basin and the upper and the middle Bednja basin. Desinicka gora (505 m), Kuna gora (520 m), Brezovica (531 m), Strahinscica (847 m) and Ivanscica (1061 m) and Ravna gora (677 m) and peripherally situated Medvednica (1035 m) and Kalnik (643 m) mostly consist of the Mesozoic rocks.

Sacral monuments

The Franciscan monastery and St. Catherine's Church - They were founded in 1641 by Ana Marija Keglević (the wife of S. Erdody, a Croatian Governor or 'Ban'), and her brother Franjo Keglević. The church furnishings and library are a part of the cultural heritage.

Trški Vrh - A baroque votive church of the Holy Mother of Jerusalem (1750-1761). It is decorated by valuable frescoes by Anton Lerchinger. There is the choir where the famous 18th-century Romer organ, recently restored, is situated. This is a well-known votive shrine and a place of pilgrimage.