Narrow stone staircase of Veliki Tabor Castle
The castle of Veliki Tabor is one of the best-preserved middle-aged castles in Croatia and maybe one of the most beautiful in our country. It is situated in Hrvatsko Zagorje: region in the northern part of Croatia famous for its beautiful landscapes and vineyards.
The castle was built in 15th century as a fortress. In the period of renaissance, between 16th and 17th century the castle was reconstructed several times and has gained its final shape that we can see today. It is five-angled building, two floors high with four semicircled towers. Courtyard of the castle is of irregular shape due to these reconstructions and is surrounded with arcade porches.
The first owners of the castle were Counts of Celje. In 1502 Matija Korvin gave the castle to the Ratkay family and it belonged to them until 1793 when the last member of the family died. Than the castle became the property of the Austrio-Hungarian Monarchy and afterwards of the Grunwald family. Croatian famous painter, Oton Ivekovic was the owner of the castle from 1920 until 1939. Today castle is property of Republic Croatia. It is opened for the visitors everyday and part of the castle is arranged as art galery. As a great cultural heritage castle is protected by UNESCO.
Great romantic legend is connected to the history of Veliki Tabor. In the 15th century, Fridrik of Celje son of one of the owners of the castle fell in love with beautiful country girl from nearest vilage, Veronika Desinic. Father of the young count was of course against that love, so he sent his son Fridrik away and his guards cought Veronika and drowned her. The legend says that they built her dead body in one of the walls of the castle and today the ghost of Veronika can be seen in the night wondering through the halls of castle.
