EUROPA 2017 - TRAKOSCAN

TRAKOŠĆAN – Drašković Family Manor With its appearance and the forest park surrounding it, Trakošćan is an example of a romantic perception of the central European country architecture from the middle of the 19th century. It is a symbol of romanticism and is the most famous and most picturesque Croatian manor. It has been used as a musum for the past six decades, and the manor, with its surrounding landscaping ambiance, is protected as a cultural and natural good. With an area of 450 hectares, Trakošćan consists of three units: the manor house with ancillary buildings, a romantic manor park surrounding it (87 hectares) and a forest park. During the seven centuries of its existence, the Trakošćan Manor underwent some extensions, modifications, construction and fortification improvements – changing from a castle-burg to a picturesque romantic manor house that we see today. Its name was mentioned in 1334 for the first time. It was probably built in the 14th century as a smaller fort as a part of the defence system of Hrvatsko zagorje. Today, the manor contains architectural elements of gothic (14th century), renaissance and baroque (16th – 19th century) and neo-gothic (19th century) architecture. In the middle of the 19th century, Trakošćan was squalid and it was not suitable for residence. The owner of Trakošćan at that time, Vice Marshal Count Juraj (George) VI Drašković with his wife, Sofia Baillet-Latour (maiden name), started to renovate the old medieval fortified castle-berg in 1853 and turn it into a manor. The renovation of Trakošćan was the first restauration undertaking in Croatia. Large architectural undertakings in neo-gothic style were led by Michael Riedl, an Austrian architect and builder. Prior to Trakošćan, he managed the renovation of Laxenburg, an imperial and royal summer manor near Vienna. The Drašković family of counts owned Trakošćan for 375 years – from 1569 to 1944. In 1953 the manor was turned into a museum, known today as the Trakošćan Castle. It was established as a museum with a fuedal ambiance featuring an old preserved inventory from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 19th century tied to the history of the Drašković family and the past of Trakošćan. Academic Mladen Obad Šćitaroci Professor Bojana Bojanić Obad Šćitaroci, PhD