Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party is a centrist political party in Croatia founded on December 22, 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party. Brothers Radić considered that the realization of Croatian statehood was possible within Austria-Hungary, but that it had to be reformed into a Monarchy divided into three equal parts – Austria, Croatia. After the creation of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, Party requested for the Croatian part of the Kingdom to be based on self-determination; this brought them great public support which columned in 1920 parliamentary election when HPSS won all 58 seats assigned to Croatia. In 1920, disgruntled with a bad position of Croats in the Kingdom, Party changed its name into Croatian Republican Peasant Party and started advocating secession from the Kingdom and the establishment of "peaceful peasant Republic of Croatia". On 1923 and 1925 election, HRSS doubled the number of won votes, has thus become the second largest party in the Parliament.
In 1927, faced with a constant prosecution by the regime, HRSS was forced to soften its policy, change its name into Croatian Peasant Party, recognize the Vidovdan Constitution and form a coalition with Serbian People's Radical Party. This resulted in HSS losing its popularity, seen in 1927 election when it lost third of votes won in the previous elections. After termination of the coalition agreement with the Radicals, HSS formed Peasant-Democratic Coalition with Pribičević's Independent Democratic Party. In 1928, Vladko Maček become the new president of HSS after the assassination of Stjepan Radić. After King Alexander declared dictatorship in 1929, HSS was banned and its members prosecuted. HSS participated in the 1935 and 1938 election as a part of the United opposition coalition which helped it to regain its influence. In 1939, Cvetković–Maček Agreement helped in the establishing of the HSS-governed Banovina of Croatia. After the establishment of Nazi-puppet state, the so-called Independent State of Croatia in 1941, HSS was banned once again, with half of its members joining either Ustaše or Partisans, part staying loyal to Maček who believed that the victory of Allies would bring liberal democracy into Croatia and that HSS would return to power.
In May 1945, Maček left the country, while HSS split into two fractions which boycotted the 1945 election because of their opposition to the Communists. During the period of SFR Yugoslavia, HSS was active abroad. On May 25, 1991, HSS was restored under the leadership of Drago Stipac at the so-called Assembly of Unification; the party first entered Government after 2000 elections, on which it participated as part of liberal coalition, with Ivica Račan serving as Prime Minister and its president Zlatko Tomčić as Parliament Speaker. After HSS lost 2003 election, it moved to the opposition. In 2007 election, HSS formed yet another liberal coalition and ended up leading Ministries of Tourism and Agriculture in the Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II, Ministries of Tourism and Regional Development in the Cabinet of Jadranka Kosor. In 2011 election party won only 1 seat in the Parliament. In 2015 election HSS won 1 seats as part of the conservative Patriotic Coalition, supported Tihomir Orešković as Prime Minister.
In 2016 election, HSS won 5 seats as part of the liberal People's Coalition. The Croatian People's Peasant Party was formed on December 22, 1904 by Antun Radić along with his brother Stjepan Radić, it participated in the elections for the first time in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in 1906, winning no seats. Despite this, they entered the parliament in subsequent elections. In 1908 the party won three seats, in 1910 nine seats, in 1911 eight seats. While Croatia was still part of Austria-Hungary, HSS sought for greater autonomy, peasants' rights and land reform. After World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the HSS garnered significant popular and electoral support for its advocacy of an independent Croatian state, its opposition to the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs and Slovenes which the party claimed would be dominated by Serbs. Despite the party's efforts, the kingdom was established, the HSS became an opposition party in parliament. Although popular among its constituency, the party's weakness was its limited national appeal and its ethnic and economic-based constituency.
The HSS advocated a federal state in which Croatia would be afforded equal status vis-à-vis Serbia, the party platform still called for greater Croatian autonomy and independence. With that goal in mind, the HSS renamed itself the Croatian Republican Peasant Party until the royal authorities forced the party to remove the word "Republican" in 1925 because of its anti-royalist connotation. In the early 1920s the Yugoslav government of prime minister Nikola Pašić used political and police pressure over voters and ethnic minorities, confiscation of opposition pamphlets and other measures of election rigging to keep the opposition the Croatian Peasant Party and its allies, in minority in Yugoslav parliament. Pasic believed that Yugoslavia should be as centralized as possible, creating in place of distinct regional governments and identities a Greater Serbian national concept of concentrated power in the hands of Belgrade; as the opposition, the party's strategy was to boycott parliamentary sessions which not only allowed Serb politicians to further consolidate power, it created political instability and hostility.
On June 20, 1928, Puniša Račić, a Serbian ultra-nationalist, was off
Hrvatsko Zagorje
Hrvatsko zagorje is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica mountain. It comprises the whole area north of Mount Medvednica up to Slovenia in the north and west, up to the regions of Međimurje and Podravina in the north and east; the population of Zagorje is not recorded as such, as it is administratively divided among Krapina-Zagorje County, western and central part of Varaždin County. The population of Zagorje can be reasonably estimated to exceed 300,000 people. In Croatia, the area is referred to as "Zagorje". However, to avoid confusion with the nearby Municipality of Zagorje ob Savi in Slovenia, the Croatian part is called Hrvatsko zagorje, meaning "Croatian Zagorje"; the town of Krapina is referred to as the cultural capital of Kajkavian dialect, the South Slavic regiolect spoken in north-western Croatia. Every year, the Festival of Kajkavian Song takes place in Krapina. Geography of Croatia Zakarpattia and Záhorie
Hungary
Hungary is a country in Central Europe. Spanning 93,030 square kilometres in the Carpathian Basin, it borders Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Austria to the northwest, Romania to the east, Serbia to the south, Croatia to the southwest, Slovenia to the west. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a medium-sized member state of the European Union; the official language is Hungarian, the most spoken Uralic language in the world, among the few non-Indo-European languages to be spoken in Europe. Hungary's capital and largest city is Budapest; the territory of modern Hungary was for centuries inhabited by a succession of peoples, including Celts, Germanic tribes, West Slavs and the Avars. The foundations of the Hungarian state were established in the late ninth century CE by the Hungarian grand prince Árpád following the conquest of the Carpathian Basin, his great-grandson Stephen I ascended the throne in 1000, converting his realm to a Christian kingdom. By the 12th century, Hungary became a regional power, reaching its cultural and political height in the 15th century.
Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Hungary was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. It came under Habsburg rule at the turn of the 18th century, joined Austria to form the Austro–Hungarian Empire, a major European power; the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed after World War I, the subsequent Treaty of Trianon established Hungary's current borders, resulting in the loss of 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, 32% of ethnic Hungarians. Following the tumultuous interwar period, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in World War II, suffering significant damage and casualties. Hungary became a satellite state of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a socialist republic spanning four decades; the country gained widespread international attention as a result of its 1956 revolution and the seminal opening of its previously-restricted border with Austria in 1989, which accelerated the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. On 23 October 1989, Hungary became a democratic parliamentary republic.
Hungary is an OECD high-income economy and has the world's 58th largest economy by PPP. It ranks 45th on the Human Development Index, owing in large part to its social security system, universal health care, tuition-free secondary education. Hungary's rich cultural history includes significant contributions to the arts, literature, sports and technology, it is the 13th most popular tourist destination in Europe, attracting 15.8 million international tourists in 2017, owing to attractions such as the largest thermal water cave system in the world, second largest thermal lake, the largest lake in Central Europe and the largest natural grasslands in Europe. Hungary's cultural and academic prominence classify it as a middle power in global affairs. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 and has been part of the Schengen Area since 2007, it is a member of numerous international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the AIIB, the Council of Europe, the Visegrád Group.
The "H" in the name of Hungary is most due to early founded historical associations with the Huns, who had settled Hungary prior to the Avars. The rest of the word comes from the Latinized form of Byzantine Greek Oungroi. According to an explanation,the Greek name was borrowed from Old Bulgarian ągrinŭ, in turn borrowed from Oghur-Turkic Onogur. Onogur was the collective name for the tribes who joined the Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars; the Hungarian endonym is Magyarország, composed of ország. The word magyar is taken from the name of one of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes, magyeri; the first element magy is from Proto-Ugric *mäńć-'man, person' found in the name of the Mansi people. The second element eri,'man, lineage', survives in Hungarian férj'husband', is cognate with Mari erge'son', Finnish archaic yrkä'young man'; the Roman Empire conquered the territory west of the Danube between 35 and 9 BC. From 9 BC to the end of the 4th century, Pannonia was part of the Roman Empire, located within part of Hungary's territory.
Around AD 41–54, a 500-strong cavalry unit created the settlement of Aquincum and a Roman legion of 6,000 men was stationed here by AD 89. A civil city grew in the neighbourhood of the military settlement and in AD 106 Aquincum became the focal point of the commercial life of this area and the capital city of the province of Pannonia Inferior; this area now corresponds to the Óbuda district of Budapest, with the Roman ruins now forming part of the modern Aquincum museum. Came the Huns, a Central Asian tribe who built a powerful empire. After Hunnish rule, the Germanic Ostrogoths and Gepids, the Avar Khaganate, had a presence in the Carpathian Basin. In the 9th century, East Francia, the First Bulgarian Empire and Great Moravia ruled the territory of the Carpathian Basin; the freshly unified Hungarians led by Árpád, settled in the Carpathian Basin starting in 895. According to linguistic evidence, they originated from an ancient Uralic-speaking population that inhabited the forested area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains.
As a federation of united tribes, Hungary was established in 895, some 50 years after the division of the Carolingian Empire at the Treaty of Verdun in 843, before the unification of the Anglo-Saxon king
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia following the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868. It was associated with the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen known as Transleithania. While Croatia has been granted a wide internal autonomy with "national features", in reality, Croatian control over key issues such as tax and military issues was minimal and hampered by Hungary, it was internally referred to as the Triune Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia simply know as the Triune Kingdom and had irredentist claims on Dalmatia, part of the Austrian Cisleithania. The city of Rijeka, following a fraud in the 1868 Settlement, known as the Rijeka Addendum became a Corpus separatum and was owned by Hungary, but administrated by both Croatia and Hungary.
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was ruled by the Habsburg Emperor of Austria under his title as King of Croatia and Dalmatia and was confirmed by the State Sabor upon enthronement. The King's appointed steward was the Ban of Slavonia. On 21 October 1918, Emperor Karl I, known as King Karlo IV in Croatia, issued a Trialist manifest, ratified by the Hungarian side on the next day and which unified all Croatian Crown Lands. One week on 29 October 1918, the Croatian Croatian State Sabor proclaimed an Independent Kingdom which entered the State of Slovenes and Serbs; the kingdom used the formal title of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia, thereby pressing its claim on the Kingdom of Dalmatia, but Dalmatia was a Kronland within the imperial Austrian part of Austria-Hungary. The claim was, for most of the time, supported by the Hungarian government, which backed the Croatia-Slavonia in an effort to increase its share of the dual state; the union between the two Croatian lands of Austria-Hungary never took place, however.
According to the Article 53 of the Croatian–Hungarian Agreement, governing Croatia's political status in the Hungarian-ruled part of Austria-Hungary, the ban's official title was "Ban of Kingdom of Dalmatia and Slavonia". Not only would different parts of the Monarchy at the same time use different styles of the titles, but the same institutions would at the same time use different naming standards for the same institution. For instance, when the Imperial and Royal Court in Vienna would list the Croatian Ban as one of the Great Officers of State in the Kingdom of Hungary, the style used would be Regnorum Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae Banus, but when the Court would list the highest officials of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia, the title would be styled as "Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia"; the laws passed in Croatia-Slavonia used the phrase "Kingdom of Dalmatia and Slavonia". In Hungarian, Croatia is referred to as Slavonia as Szlavónia; the combined polity was known by the official name of Horvát-Szlavón Királyság.
The short form of the name was Horvát-Szlavónország and, less Horvát-Tótország. The order of mentioning Dalmatia was a contentious issue, as it was ordered differently in the Croatian and Hungarian language versions of the 1868 Settlement; the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was created in 1868, when the former kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia were joined into one single kingdom. The Croatian parliament, elected in a questionable manner, confirmed the subordination of Croatia-Slavonia to Hungary in 1868 with signing of Hungarian-Croatian union constitution called the Nagodba; this kingdom included parts of present-day Serbia. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 the only remaining open question of the new state was the status of Croatia, which would be solved with the Hungarian-Croatian Compromise of 1868 when agreement was reached between the Parliament of Hungary on one hand and the Parliament of Croatia-Slavonia on the other hand, with regard to the composition by a joint enactment of the constitutional questions at issue between them.
Settlement reached between Hungary and Croatia was in Croatian version of the Settlement named "The Settlement between Kingdom of Hungary, united with Erdély on the one side and the Kingdoms of Dalmatia and Slavonia". In the Hungarian version neither Hungary, nor Croatia and Slavonia are styled kingdoms, Erdély is not mentioned, while Settlement is named as the Settlement between Parliament of Hungary and Parliament of Croatia and Dalmatia. Both versions received Royal sanction and both as such became fundamental laws of the state with constitutional importance, pursuant to article 69. and 70. of the Settlement. With this compromise the parliament of personal union controlled the military, the financial system, Sea Law, Commercial Law, the law of Bills of Exchange and Mining Law, matters of commerce, telegraphs, Post Office, harbours and those roads and riv
Counties of Croatia
The counties of Croatia are the primary administrative subdivisions of the Republic of Croatia. Since they were re-established in 1992, Croatia has been divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb, which has the authority and legal status of both a county and a city; as of 2015, the counties are subdivided into 428 municipalities. County assembly is a deliberative body in each county. Assembly members are elected for a four-year term by popular vote in local elections; the executive branch of each county's government is headed by a county prefect, except that a mayor heads the city of Zagreb's executive branch. Croatia's county prefects, mayor of Zagreb are elected for a four-year term by a majority of votes cast within applicable local government units, with a runoff election if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting. County prefects can be recalled by a referendum. County administrative bodies are administrative departments and services which are established for the performance of works in the self-governing domain of the county, as well as for the performance of works of state administration transferred to the county.
Administrative departments and services are managed by heads nominated by the county prefect on the basis of a public competition. In each county exists a State Administration Office which performs the tasks of the central government. Head of State Administration Office, a university graduate in law, is appointed by the Croatian Government; these offices are not subordinate to the county assembly or county prefect, but rather the direct presence of the state. The counties are funded by the central government, as well as from county-owned businesses, county taxes and county fees. County taxes include a five percent inheritance and gift tax, a motor vehicle tax, a vessel tax and an arcade game machine tax; the counties are tasked with performing general public administration services and secondary education, government funded healthcare, social welfare, administration pertaining to agriculture, hunting, mining and construction, other services to the economy at the county level, as well as road transport infrastructure management and issuing of building and location permits and other document in relation to construction in the county area excluding the area of the big city and the county seat city.
The Croatian County Association was set up in 2003 as a framework for inter-county cooperation. The Croatian term županija was applied to territory controlled by a župan. Since the 12th century, the counties have been referred to by the Latin term comitatus. Croatia was first subdivided into counties in the Middle Ages. Counties were first introduced in Croatia during the House of Trpimirović's rule; the exact number and borders of these early counties are difficult to determine accurately. The following eleven are listed as the oldest counties of Croatia, dating back to the 10th century: Livno Cetina Imotski Pliva Pset or Pesenta Primorje or Klis Bribir Nona Knin Sidraga Nina or Luka The ban ruled over an additional three župas Krbava and Gacka to the West, approximatelly today's Lika-Senj County territory. In the same period, the counties in Pannonian Croatia are poorly documented, it is thought that the Pannonian counties were directly subject to the Croatian monarchy, unlike the southern counties controlled by nobles.
The county number and authority have varied reflecting: changes in the monarchial and noble relative influences. In the 13th and 14th century, the Croatian nobility grew stronger and the counties defined by the king were reduced to a legislative framework, while military and financial power was concentrated in the feudal lords. Other forms of administration that overlapped with county administration in this period included the Roman Catholic Church and the free royal cities, separately the cities of Dalmatia. After Croatia became a crown land of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1527, the importance of counties faded further, but was restored after 1760; the divisions have changed over time, reflecting: territorial losses to Ottoma
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. It is located in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of 122 m above sea level; the estimated population of the city in 2018 is 810,003. The population of the Zagreb urban agglomeration is about 1.2 million a quarter of the total population of Croatia. Zagreb is a city with a rich history dating from the Roman times to the present day; the oldest settlement located in the vicinity of the city was the Roman Andautonia, in today's Ščitarjevo. The name "Zagreb" is recorded in 1134, in reference to the foundation of the settlement at Kaptol in 1094. Zagreb became a free royal town in 1242. In 1851 Zagreb had Janko Kamauf. Zagreb has special status as a Croatian administrative division and is a consolidated city-county, is administratively subdivided into 17 city districts. Most of them are at a low elevation along the river Sava valley, whereas northern and northeastern city districts, such as Podsljeme and Sesvete districts are situated in the foothills of the Medvednica mountain, making the city's geographical image rather diverse.
The city extends over 30 kilometres east-west and around 20 kilometres north-south. The transport connections, concentration of industry and research institutions and industrial tradition underlie its leading economic position in Croatia. Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, all government ministries. All of the largest Croatian companies and scientific institutions have their headquarters in the city. Zagreb is the most important transport hub in Croatia where Central Europe, the Mediterranean and Southeast Europe meet, making the Zagreb area the centre of the road and air networks of Croatia, it is a city known for its diverse economy, high quality of living, museums and entertainment events. Its main branches of economy are the service sector; the etymology of the name Zagreb is unclear. It was used for the united city only from 1852, but it had been in use as the name of the Zagreb Diocese since the 12th century, was used for the city in the 17th century; the name is first recorded in a charter by Ostrogon archbishop Felician, dated 1134, mentioned as Zagrabiensem episcopatum.
The older form of the name is Zagrab. The modern Croatian form Zagreb is first recorded in a 1689 map by Nicolas Sanson. An older form is reflected in Hungarian Zabrag. For this, Hungarian linguist Gyula Décsy proposes the etymology of Chabrag, a well-attested hypocorism of the name Cyprian; the same form is reflected in a number such as Csepreg. The name might be derived from Proto-Slavic word * grębъ which means uplift. An Old Croatian reconstructed name *Zagrębъ is manifested through the German name of the city Agram; the name Agram was used in German in the Habsburg period. In Middle Latin and Modern Latin, Zagreb is known as Zagrabia or Mons Graecensis. In Croatian folk etymology, the name of the city has been derived from either the verb za-grab-, meaning "to scoop" or "to dig". One folk legend illustrating this derivation ties the name to a drought of the early 14th century, during which Augustin Kažotić is said to have dug a well which miraculously produced water. In another legend, a city governor is thirsty and orders a girl named Manda to "scoop" water from Manduševac well, using the imperative: zagrabi, Mando!.
The oldest settlement located near today's Zagreb was a Roman town of Andautonia, now Šćitarjevo, which existed between the 1st and the 5th century AD. The first recorded appearance of the name Zagreb is dated to 1094, at which time the city existed as two different city centres: the smaller, eastern Kaptol, inhabited by clergy and housing Zagreb Cathedral, the larger, western Gradec, inhabited by craftsmen and merchants. Gradec and Kaptol were united in 1851 by ban Josip Jelačić, credited for this, with the naming the main city square, Ban Jelačić Square in his honour. During the period of former Yugoslavia, Zagreb remained an important economic centre of the country, was the second largest city. After Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, Zagreb was proclaimed its capital; the history of Zagreb dates as far back as 1094 A. D. when the Hungarian King Ladislaus, returning from his campaign against Croatia, founded a diocese. Alongside the bishop's see, the canonical settlement Kaptol developed north of Zagreb Cathedral, as did the fortified settlement Gradec on the neighbouring hill.
Today the latter is one of the best preserved urban nuclei in Croatia. Both settlements came under Tatar attack in 1242; as a sign of gratitude for offering him a safe haven from the Tatars the Croatian and Hungarian King Bela IV bestowed Gradec with a Golden Bull, which offered its citizens exemption from county rule and
Varaždin
Varaždin is a city in Northern Croatia, 81 km north of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 on 34.22 km2 of the city settlement itself. The centre of Varaždin County is located near the Drava River, at 46.312°N 16.361°E / 46.312. It is known for its baroque buildings, textile, food and IT industry. In Hungarian the town is known as Varasd, in Latin as Varasdinum, in German as Warasdin; the name Varaždin traces its origin in a Hungarian loanword meaning city. The total population of the city is 46,946 and it includes the following settlements: The total area is 59.45 km2. The first written reference to Varaždin, whose historical name is Garestin, was on 20 August 1181, when King Béla III mentioned the nearby thermal springs in a legal document. Varaždin was declared a free royal borough in 1209 by the Hungarian King Andrew II; the town became the military centre of northern Croatia. Due to Ottoman raids, the town was structured defensively around the old fortress, acquired the shape of a typical medieval Wasserburg.
In the early 13th century, the Knights Hospitaller came to Varaždin, where they built the church and a monastery. At the end of the 14th century, Varaždin fortress passed to the hands of the Counts of Celje. Over the following centuries Varaždin had several owners, the most influential being Beatrice Frankopan, Margrave Georg of Brandenburg, who built the town hall. At the end of the 16th century Count Thomas Erdődy became its owner, assuming the hereditary position of Varaždin prefects, the fortress remained in the ownership of the Erdődy family until 1925. In 1756, the Ban Ferenc Nádasdy chose Varaždin as his official residence, Varaždin became the capital of all of Croatia, it hosted the Royal Croatian Council founded by Empress Maria Theresa. The periods of the Reformation and the counter-reformation had a great influence on Varaždin. With the arrival of the Jesuits, the school and the Jesuit house were founded, churches and other buildings were built in the Baroque style. In the 18th century Varaždin was the seat of many Croatian noblemen, in 1756 it became the Croatian administrative centre.
The fire of 1776 destroyed most of the town, resulting in the administrative institutions moving back to Zagreb. Varaždin was the seat of the Varaždin County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, ruled by the Kingdom of Hungary after the compromise of 1867; the Hungarian stamp, issued in 1881 shows both names. By the 19th century Varaždin had been rebuilt and expanded, with flourishing crafts and trade, the manufacture of silk and bricks; the theatre, music school, fire department were founded. In the 20th century Varaždin developed into the industrial centre of Northwestern Croatia; the textile manufacturer Tivar was founded in 1918. In the Croatian War of Independence, 1991, Varaždin suffered directly for only for a few days, because the huge Yugoslav People's Army base surrendered, resulting in a minimal number of casualties, providing weapons for the Croatian army. Varaždin represents the richest urban complex in continental Croatia; the Old Town is an example of medieval defensive buildings.
Construction began in the 14th century, in the following century the rounded towers, typical of Gothic architecture in Croatia, were added. Today it houses the Town Museum; the fortress is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 5 kuna banknote, issued in 1993 and 2001. The Old and Contemporary Masters Gallery is located in the Sermage Palace, built in the rococo style in 1750. In 1523, Margrave Georg of Brandenburg built the town hall in late baroque style, with the Varaždin coat of arms at the foot of the tower, it has continued in its function until the present day. There is a guard-changing ceremony every Saturday. Varaždin's Cathedral, a former Jesuit church, was built in 1647, is distinguished by its baroque entrance, eighteenth-century altar, paintings. There are many rococo palaces and houses in the town. Worth particular mention is Varaždin's Croatian National Theatre, built in 1873 and designed by the Viennese architects Herman Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner. A baroque music festival has been held annually in Varaždin since 1971, attracts some of the finest musicians and their fans from Croatia and the world.
Recommended to visitors is the historical street festival Špancir fest every September. The city features its old city guard, named Purgari, in various city ceremonies as well as the weekly ceremony of the'change of the guards' in front of the city hall. Additionally, Varaždin police officers patrol on bicycles in the warmer months; the Old Town keep is one of the biggest monuments in the city of Varaždin and one of its biggest tourist attractions. It is located in the north-western section of the city core. Today the keep houses the Varaždin City Museum; the keep is first mentioned in the 12th century and it is believed to be the center of Varaždin county life. The keep underwent numerous ownership reconstructions over the centuries; the Old Town was featured on the now defunct 5 Kuna bill. On the bill, the picture is a mirror image of the actual appearance of the; the cemetery dates back to 1773 and it was long time an ordinary place until 1905, when Herman Haller had an idea to make it more park-like with large trees and alleys for citizens to stroll through.
The reconstruction of the cemetery was done between 1905 and 1
Croatia
Krapina-Zagorje
