Belvedere in Sv. Križ Brdovečki

Marija Gorica, Marija Gorica

In the village of Sveti Križ Brdovečki, at the site of the present Church of the Holy Cross and the graveyard, there was a settlement in the distant past. From this position the entire valley of the river Sava is visible and it is also an important communication line from Pannonia to the Alps. Archeological research confirmed a settlement in the older Iron Age with numerous ceramic fragments of pottery and remains of living premises. There also traces of fortifications on the less steep hill sides. Near the path leading to the settlement there was a graveyard, now at the initial stages of excavation. A grave with a skeleton was found with a horse corpse and all equipment which the man carried during his life. Such a grave is called a duke's grave, because the buried person must have been a tribal leader to be buried in such a way. The equipment consisted of a bronze helmet, a decorative bronze belt buckle and some other pieces of clothing and weapons currently not identified until restored. The horse's equipment also included bronze decorative plates and iron bits. Numerous ceramic fragments (probably containing food) were also found beside the body as the provisions for the trip to the other world. The bronze helmet is a unique finding in Croatia and the world. Those archeological findings discovered so far may be dated to the older Iron Age, about 700 years before Christ.