Pregrada

Pregrada is a small Zagorje town beneath wooded Kunagora, centred on Trg Gospe Kunagorske and the twin-towered Parish Church of the Assumption. Often called the “Zagorje Cathedral”, the church contains an 1834 organ by Franjo Focht and a monumental altarpiece by Johann Ziegler, both originally created for Zagreb Cathedral. Opposite the church, the Pregrada Town Museum occupies a former school built in 1908. Its permanent display of 639 objects connects three unexpected strands of local history: numismatics, coal mining and the pharmacy and pharmaceutical enterprise of the Thierry family. Kunagora rises directly above the centre and is noted for Middle Triassic ammonites approximately 240 million years old, a mountain lodge and a paragliding launch site. A fourteen-station Way of the Cross climbs towards the lodge, while the Lenart Steps and forest path offer another approach. Pregrada therefore works particularly well as a day trip combining a museum, religious art and a short hill walk, with additional excursions towards Vinagora, Kostelgrad and Bežanec Castle.

Pregrada is an urban centre in western Hrvatsko Zagorje, occupying the Kosteljina valley beneath the Kunagora massif. Its centre is dominated by the twin-towered Parish Church of the Assumption—hence the nickname “Zagorje Cathedral”—with the town museum directly across the square. Local identity extends beyond vineyards and rolling hills: the museum records a coal mine that operated from 1942 until 1975 and the Thierry pharmacy family, pioneers of industrial medicine production in Pregrada. Kunagora adds another distinctive layer as a geological site containing Triassic ammonites and as a hiking destination overlooking the town’s valley.