Oroslavje

Oroslavje lies in Hrvatsko Zagorje at the northern foot of Medvednica, around 35 kilometres from Zagreb. The town first grew around two aristocratic estates and later around the textile industry developed by entrepreneur Milan Prpić during the 1920s. Oroslavje Donje Castle, built for the Vojković family between 1770 and 1790, ranks among the notable examples of Baroque secular architecture in Zagorje. Oroslavje Gornje Castle was lost to fire in 1949, yet its surviving Vranyczany Park, lake and Romantic landscaping still evoke the former estate. Other local stops include Prpić Family Park, the parish church of the Assumption and St Roch’s Chapel, erected after an early-19th-century plague. A very different attraction awaits in nearby Mokrice, where Science Park uses interactive installations to demonstrate ideas from physics, astronomy, geography and psychology. Oroslavje’s story also includes Franz Liszt’s visit in 1846, Vlaho Bukovac’s portraits of the Vranyczany family and the factories that made the town an important Croatian textile centre between the world wars.

Oroslavje brings together the Zagorje foothills below Medvednica, the legacy of two castles and the remains of a powerful industrial era. The Vojković family built Oroslavje Donje between 1770 and 1790, while the Sermage family reshaped Oroslavje Gornje in the Baroque style; the latter castle burned down in 1949. Vranyczany Park and Prpić Family Park preserve the spatial setting of these aristocratic estates. Milan Prpić acquired both properties around 1920, opening the Preslica textile factory in the upper castle in 1925 and a new woollen-fabric plant in 1926. The town’s cultural history also includes Franz Liszt’s 1846 visit and the repeated stays of painter Vlaho Bukovac, who portrayed the Vranyczany family and painted the castle façade.