Novi Dvori Jelačićevi Castle

Zaprešić, Zaprešić

The castle complex of Novi Dvori of the vice-roy Jelačić and his heirs is an important historical and cultural monument. The value is the preserved unity of the nobleman's castle and farming premises, the Chapel of St. Joseph, the family crypt in the park, all on the 20.5 ha estate. The castle was first mentioned in documents at the end of the 16th century as Curia Nova, owned by the Zrinski family of Susedgrad. The castle was confiscated after the insurrection of 1671 and bought by the Čikulini family, who gained their fortune by managing the Zrinski estate in Vinodol. They constructed the Novi Dvori complex, and when the family died out in 1746, the estate was transferred by marriage law to the Sermage family, then Festetić and Erdödy, and was finally bought by the vice-roy Jelačić in 1852. In 1934, nieces Vera and Anka, who guarded the estate as a national treasure, left it to Croatian people. Jelačić renewed and reconstructed the old castle, landscaped the alley leading through the estate to the castle. The vice-roy had the Chapel of St. Joseph built in the park in 1855, where his nine-month-old daughter, the vice-roy himself and his brother Antun were buried. Later, brother Đuro built the crypt and commissioned the most esteemed architect of that time, Herman Bollé. After the death of the vice-roy Jelačić, the family of his brother Đuro cherished the memory of the vice-roy and the castle was one of the main meeting places of Croatian nobility for decades. Other structures are also interesting beside the castle itself: the thresher from the 18th century, the oldest preserved in Croatia, then the three-storey granary where the "Matija Skurjeni" museum is today.