Samobor

By the charter of King Bela IV of 1242, Samobor was granted the privileges of a free market town. Above the town are the ruins of the large burg Stari Grad, built in the period from the 13th to the 18th century; the burg was abandoned in the 19th century. Its remains include architectural details from the Romanesque period onward. The burg was owned by a number of eminent families and persons (the Babonics, Counts Celjski, the Frankopans, the Ungnads, the Erdodys, the Kulmers, the Kiepachs, the Allnochs).

Below the burg Stari Grad is the historical core of Samobor, with wooden houses and the Gothic church of St. Michael, restored in Baroque style. The church features Baroque altars (the main altar from 1706, made by the workshop of I. Komersteiner; the altar of St. Catherine from 1736, etc.). - Samobor has several ranges of harmoniously proportioned houses from the 18th and the 19th centuries. The Livadic Dvori, in the past the meeting point of the supporters of the Illyrian Movement, now -houses the museum. The Podolje Manor-house, once an estate of the Praunsperger-Bosnjak family, dated to the year 1590, features old furniture, weaponry, vessels and numerous paintings. Among the manor-houses in the vicinity of Samobor, the most prominent is the classicist-style Balagovi Dvori. - The parish church of St. Anastasia was built by the master Ivan (Hans) Allio from Celje in the period 1671-1675; an earlier church was first mentioned in 1334. It is a spacious one-nave structure with three side chapels on each of the sides and the polygonal sanctuary supported by pillars; the high belfry rises next to the main front with the Renaissance portal; the belfry has a Baroque cap (the bell was made by J. Friedmann in Zagreb, 1761). Next to the church is the classicist-style monument dedicated to M. Bahovec, which dates back to 1839. - The Baroque Franciscan church of St. Mary, built around 1722, is a spacious one-nave structure with a polygonal sanctuary, the side chapels and a high belfry on the front. The large illusionist composition representing the Assumption of Our Lady was painted by F. Jelovsek in 1752 (badly restored in 1885). Among numerous works of art from the 18th century, the most prominent are the altars from 1735, a gift of Bishop J. Branjug, the pulpit, a gift of N. Terihaj (died in 1750), the main altar from 1752 and the altarpieces by V. Metzinger from 1734-1735. The Baroque monastery of a quadrangular ground-plan (1712-1721) with the inner courtyard (a well from 1717) features Baroque paintings, vessels, a Rococo-style monstrance and a rich library holding the books from the 16th to the 19th century. - In Anindol there is the Baroque chapel of St. Anne with Baroque altars and above it the chapel of St. George (the inscription of the year 1622). - The Town Museum of Samobor (Livadićeva 7), established in 1949, has several collections - archaeological, ethnological, cultural-historical - of artefacts and works of art from the region.