CASTLES OF CROATIA, Lužnica

Lužnica – Baron Rauch's Baroque manor house The Lužnica manor house is located in the Sava River Valley west of Zaprešić and 20 km west of the centre of Zagreb. It was constructed in the 18th century on a previously existing estate. Lužnica is a three-winged single-floor manor house influenced by the Austrian Baroque. The façades boast Late Baroque features with decorative corner towers and recognisable male and female busts above the window. Only a few original interior fixtures have been preserved, such as the masonry stove dating back to the second half of the 19th century and the Late Baroque built-in closets with hand-carved doors. The manor house is situated in a large early-19th century 8-hectare park. It boasted features of English landscape architecture, with the surrounding meadows and fields inspiring park vedute. The manor house with a park, auxiliary buildings and a kitchen garden and orchard create a mostly preserved whole, in terms of function and form, of high ambient value. In the 18th century, Lužnica was owned by Baron Pavle Rauch, who thoroughly renovated and perhaps even extended the manor in 1791. After that, it was the residence of the Rauch family, which was of German and Saxon heritage. It was famous for producing pro-Hungarian Croatian viceroys who often caused scandals and went down in history as reviled among the people. The most prominent family member was Levin Rauch, the founder of the pro-Hungarian Unionist Party in Croatia, also known as the "settlement" viceroy, who imposed a settlement with the Hungarians on the Croatian Parliament during his mandate (1868 - 1871). The Rauch family lived in the manor house until 1925, when the entire estate was purchased by St. Vincent de Paul's Congregation of the Sisters of Charity, which founded a monastery in the manor, where nuns have lived for eight decades. The new monastery building was built on the site of the former auxiliary buildings in 2005 and in 2007, the manor was revamped as the Mary's Court Spiritual and Educational Centre, which is a venue for social, educational, cultural and tourism events.