Page 212 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Croatia

210  CRO A TIA AREA B Y AREA

UNESCO’s list of Intangible
Cultural Heritage. Lepoglava also
hosts an annual international
lace festival in September.
R Church of St Mary
Trg 1. hrvatskog sveučilišta 3.
Tel (042) 792 566. Open by appt.

6 Trakošćan
Map D1. @ for Trakošćan.
n Trakošćan, (042) 796 281.
∑ trakoscan.hr
The pretty surroundings
of the Castle of Trakošćan,
and its excellent state of
Choir stalls in the Church of St Mary, frescoed by the artist Ivan Ranger conservation, make this
one of the most visited tourist
5 Lepoglava a modern penitentiary was built sights in Zagorje. The castle
and the monastery buildings was built to guard the road
Map D1. * 8,500. £ (042) 791 193.
@ for Ivanec. n Hrvatskih pavlina 7, were returned to which descends from
(042) 494 317. _ International Lace the church. Ptuj towards the
Festival (Sep). ∑ lepoglava-info.hr The Pauline valley of the River
brotherhood may Sava. The castle
A pretty town on the Bednja also have been was listed in
river, nestled between the responsible for 1434 as one
forested slopes of two mountain instigating of the properties
peaks, Lepoglava rose to Lepoglava’s other granted by
prominence from 1400, when claim to fame: the Typical lace from Sigismund of Austria
the Pauline order built a church making of exquisite Lepoglava to the Count of
and monastery here, which and intricate lace, a Celje. It was used for
gradually became a prominent centuries-old tradition and defence purposes until the
seat of learning and scholarship. its centuries old Lace School. end of Turkish rule. In 1568
By the mid-17th century the Along with the lace of Pag and it became the property of
monastery had become one of Hvar, it has been entered into the Drašković counts.
of Croatia’s first universities;
at around the same time the
church, dedicated to St Mary Ivan Ranger (Johannes Baptiste Ranger)
(Sv. Marija), was enlarged and Born in Götzens, near Innsbruck in Austria, in 1700,
embellished. It is a Baroque Ivan Ranger joined the Pauline order at a very
Gothic building with a richly early age. Not much is known of his years
furnished interior, noted for an as an apprentice, but it is certain that he
organ dating 1649, which still lived for a time in Italy, where he
plays, and the magnificent encountered the Baroque style
series of frescoes by Ivan in Venice, Rome, Bologna and
Ranger. Also of interest is the Mantua. At the age of 30 he was
pulpit and the altar of St Anne invited to Lepoglava, then the
by the Pauline monk and headquarters of the order, to
sculptor Aleksije Königer. which he remained loyal until his
In 1854, after the dissolution death in 1753. He also worked in
nearby towns and in Slovenia (at
of the Pauline order, Lepoglava’s the monastery of Olimje and the
monastery entered a more castle-monastery of Sveti Jernej
notorious period of its history. in Rogatec). In line with Pauline
It was converted into a prison, principles, he created a school of
in which many major Croatian fresco painters. With these artists
revolutionaries, dissidents and he produced colourful fresco cycles
activists of the 20th century which were full of expression (the
were incarcerated, including trompe-l’œil paintings also reveal
Josip Broz (Tito), Moša Pijade, great technical skill). His themes
Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac were always religious, and he was Fresco painted by the Pauline monk
and Franjo Tuđman. However, much imitated. Ivan Ranger
at the start of the 21st century,
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p231 and pp248–9

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