Varazdin, northern Croatia
It was founded on a busy crossroads of European routes leading from the North-West (Austria) and the North-East (Hungary) to the South - to Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and the Adriatic Sea. Varaždin is also one of the oldest Croatian cities whose historical name (Garestin) was first mentioned on 20th August 1181, in the Charter of Croatian - Hungarian King Bela III.

http://img140.exs.cx/img140/6757/virtualvarazdin6qn.jpg
http://img140.exs.cx/img140/8785/200441822194297686cd.jpg
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http://img148.exs.cx/img148/2548/varazdin86vr.jpg
http://img148.exs.cx/img148/149/varazdin106mf.jpg
http://img148.exs.cx/img148/651/varazdin65lg.jpg
http://img148.exs.cx/img148/3762/p10102575dg.jpg
http://img148.exs.cx/img148/9997/varazdin139hf.jpg
http://img148.exs.cx/img148/3104/varazdin113qh.jpg
http://img148.exs.cx/img148/527/varazdin120gm.jpg
http://img148.exs.cx/img148/3647/varazdin37ld.jpg
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http://img148.exs.cx/img148/4306/vz0209iu.jpg
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Nice to see so much Austrian architecture from the time of Austrian empire. By the way, last 3 pictures are familiar. Do you have possibly some daily photos from the Varaždin castle?

Hey Wicky, sure I have lol, here we go :

http://img172.exs.cx/img172/6729/96130956tuuruxph9xs.jpg
http://img172.exs.cx/img172/6341/96131557vilrgtph1bm.jpg
http://img172.exs.cx/img172/4407/55743743sxsmhxph2uq.jpg

...and a nice aerial shot :
http://img172.exs.cx/img172/208/varazdinccc7we.jpg

And what did you mean by those three pics you pointed out, that they look familiar? Do they remind of you some other similar places or you've been to Varazdin ? :)

Bubach, they are some really cool pictures of Varazdin! Its not easy at times to find pictures of this place.

BTW - Varazdin was at times refered to as "Little Vienna". Not sure if it still gets called that. Its was to do with the character of the town and I guess the architecture as well.

Another important fact. Zagreb was never always the capital of Croatia.

The city of Varazdin was for a time the capital of Croatia. :)

Looks great, for those that know the operetta Grofica Marica the count comes from Varazdin.:)

Oops, thank you Astroboy for bringing up the fact about Varazdin being the capital of Croatia since my silly head is really forgetful sometimes :)

Varazdin was the capital in the period of 1756-1776. Unfortunately in 1776 there was a fire broke out that severely damaged two thirds of Varazdin so Croatian royal council had to leave the city and moved to Zagreb.

Varazdin was the capital in the period of 1756-1776. Unfortunately in 1776 there was a fire broke out that severely damaged two thirds of Varazdin so Croatian royal council had to leave the city and moved to Zagreb.

That is why Varaždin city center was built in baroque style. I see their city council care very much about street pavement and facades, unlike in some other Croatian cities.

Does anyone know which building was palace of Croatian royal council?

This buidling with a little arrow above it was the palace of Croatian royal council :)

http://img159.exs.cx/img159/8336/varazdin0017fq.jpg

Varazdin je predivan/is wonderful/iz vonderful :cheers:
Moj pradeda je upravljao Varazdinskom kasarnom, neznam kako to zovete sada, pocetkom tridesetih, ne znam dal' ta kasarna jos postoji (citaj : ima li neko fotku ? ;) )

Varazdin je predivan/is wonderful/iz vonderful :cheers:
Moj pradeda je upravljao Varazdinskom kasarnom, neznam kako to zovete sada, pocetkom tridesetih, ne znam dal' ta kasarna jos postoji (citaj : ima li neko fotku ? ;) )


Ne mogu ništa obećati, ali probat ćemo naći...

kasarna = vojarna ;)

BTW, Varaždin is today one of the best places for living in Croatia. They have one of the biggest rates of economic development in Croatia, because of their efficient city council and mayer Ivan Čehok. Many companies from EU invest in their "free economic zone".

Take a look at link:
http://www.mingo.hr/cache.aspx?pg=default.asp&cache=1&id=625&glink=

Varazdin is of course attracting a lot of investment and it has to do with a very proactive city council that looks at every possible given opportunity to draw more investment to the city and hence provide people with jobs. There is also a large automotive glass factory planned for Varazdin. This investment was drawn in from Canada. The city council has gone as far as securing "free" land for the facility to be built. Now thats a decent city council.

A few more pictures of Varazdin:

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/crkve/VZ-118.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/crkve/VZ-088.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/crkve/VZ-033.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/crkve/VZ-029.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/crkve/VZ-015.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/crkve/VZ-001.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/crkve/P9290011.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-116.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-071.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-070.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-076.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-069.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-067.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-055.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-026.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Uliceitrgovi/VZ-017.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/gradjevine/VZ-113.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Parkoviicvjetnjaci/P9290008b.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/detalji/VZ-106.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/detalji/VZ-089.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/detalji/VZ-090.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/detalji/VZ-072.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/groblje/GR-014.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/groblje/0100.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/groblje/P5292591.JPG

The Varazdin Guards:
http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Purgeri/P9290020.JPG

http://www.varazdin.hr/galerija/Purgeri/P9290017.JPG

...and a few more pics of Varazdin ;) :)

http://img167.exs.cx/img167/4520/200411281123106pc.jpg
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Excellent selection of photos from a very charming city in Croatia's north.

One can only wonder if Varazdin would have continued being the county's capital city had it not been for the terrible fire.

Probably. Today it would be large metropolis with a lot of historic buildings in center! But it is beautiful anyway :)

What a wonderful place. How could you protect all these buldings so far?

This is really a great place and nice photos too.
I especially like those red roofs!

Are there any modern parts of the city?
What is its population?

Population of Varaždin is very small – 50.000

There are also modern parts of city, but pics are not avaliable online.

Varazdin was only temporary capitol, it was never ment to be more than temporary solution.

Capitol moved to Varazdin actually several times, in 1474 and 1543 for few years all due to the fires in Zagreb, you can imagine fires at the time where major problems.

It happened a lot in Europe too, where capitols would move for few years due to the plague, earthquakes, wars, sieges or fires.

But Varazdin would perhaps remain capitol for not more than a 10 years and Zagreb would again re-gain its status.
Varazdin is very nice town, I am well impressed, and clean too.

Wow! What a great looking town! Croatia's coastal towns and cities are well-known thoughout Europe -- deservedly so -- but they tend to completely overshadow places like Varazdin, which is a shame. Even in Slovenia, Croatia is synonimous with the coast (and maybe Zagreb), but the tourist potential of northern Croatia is huge.

Nice place!!