CASTLES OF CROATIA, Laduč

Laduč Manor– the historicist manor of Baron Vranyczany-Dobrinović The manor in Laduč is located in the Municipality of Brdovec, 25 km west of Zagreb, on the border of the Sava Valley and the hills of Hrvatsko Zagorje. In the vicinity of Zaprešić, there are four castles only a few kilometres apart - the westernmost is Laduč, followed by the classicist Januševec, baroque Lužnica and the historicist Novi Dvori Jelačićevi. In the Middle Ages, Laduč belonged to the large Susedgrad-Stubica manor. In the 16th century, a manor with a noble residence (curia nobilitaris) was established. In the 17th century, a dozen manors were built in the Brdovec municipality. At the end of the 19th century, the baronial family Vranyczany-Dobrinović, which was known in the economic, political and cultural life of Croatia in the 19th century, bought five castles in Hrvatsko Zagorje - Sv. Križ Začretje, Gornja Bedekovčina, Mirkovec, Oroslavje Gornje and Laduč, bought by Vladimir Vranyczany-Dobrinović. Vladimir's daughter Tilda lived in the castle until World War II. The castle in Laduč was built in historicist style at the end of the 19th century on the foundations of an old manor house. Baron Vranyczany-Dobrinović entrusted the design and construction to the architect Kuni Waidman. It is single-storey with a rectangular floor plan and extensions to the north. The main façade faces south and the Sava Valley, with a view of the Samobor Hills. The main architectural feature of the southern entrance façade is a large gazebo with three arches. The central space of the interior is a large lobby with a representative staircase. Although there was a landscape romantic park next to the old manor house, with the construction of a new castle the park has been rearranged and enlarged. It consists of two parts - a historicist ornamental garden in the lowlands between the road and the castle bordered by outbuildings, and a landscape romantic park on the slopes north of the castle. Two stone sculptures (personification of the seasons) have been preserved from the park equipment and are kept in the Homeland Museum in Brdovec.