Old City Kalnik
What is it? Ruins of ancient fortress
Where? Kalnik, Koprivnica-Križevci County
Activities: Hiking, Walking, Alpinism
The old town of Veliki Kalnik is a complex of fortifications built from the 12th century onwards on Mount Kalnik near the village of Kalnik. The area has been inhabited since prehistoric and Roman times. The fortress was first mentioned in 1243, when King Bela IV. emphasizes its importance in the fight against the Tatars. According to legend, the king took refuge on Kalnik with his entourage, fleeing from the Tatars. The local population fed them with plums, so they were called plum farmers; The Tatars gave up, and the king granted them noble titles. At Kalnik, the Tatars experienced their first defeat. The old legend about the plum growers in Kalnik inspired Šeno to write the work "Plums" and Milutin Mayer to write his historical novel "Tatars in Croatia". The Hungarian-Croatian king Sigismund of Luxembourg and his wife Barbara Celjska ("the black queen") stayed in the fortress. The owners of the fort were nobles, bans, the bishop of Zagreb, etc. Among the noble families, the following stand out: Erdödy, Drašković, Keglević, Orehovečki, Kosače, and others.
Learn more