Castles

Rakalj is near the Rasa Bay.

In Rakalj is Mate Balota’s birth house He was  a writer and economist of the 20th century. His name was Mija Mirkovič, but the nick name Mate Balota.

On the main square in Rakalj is Loredan’s palace with a loggia and coat arms from 1537. In the village is the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the 15th century.

The castle dates back to the Roman times. The Church here St. Agnes is built in 1495. On the place of the castle was probably a prehistoric hill fort settlement.

Date: 2015-04-04

Name: Rakalj’s castle

Place: Rakalj – Marčana

 

Sv. lovreč  is  named after the cemetery church of St. Lawrence from the 8th century. This church is located  a few hundred meters outside the old town.

Sv. Lovreč was important  because it was a Venetian military command base for the continental part of Istria during the 14th century. The old parts of the town are raised in the 14th and 15th cetury. The main gate, with a Gothic arch with coat arms and with the Lion of St. Mark with closed book from 1530, is located in the southern part of the town.

Opposite the gate is a small church, named St. Blaise, from 1460 with frescoes. Inside the walls are a Municipal loggia,  a Parish church of St. Martin from the 11th century, which a new facade from 1838, a former prison and an ex-hospital from the 14th century and a 17 meter high defense tower with a well inside of it.

At the beginning of the 17th century was St. Lovreč involved with the war between Venice and Austria but was well defended, but suffered under the plague of 1630.  With the falf of Venice in 1797 Sv. Lovreč became a part of the Austrian Empire.

Place: Sv. Lovreč

The church inside the walls of the castle is the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

Kostel is fortified during the Roman period for the purpose  of controlling the valley.

After a Marquisate, an administration under the Aquileia Patriarchs, and many different rulers, it became in 1422 under Venice. They changed the name of the castle in Pietro Pelosa.

 

Place: Kostel – (Buzet)

Name: Kostel – Pietro Pelosa

Mutvoran is a little village located on the Eastern coast of Istria  Several houses have  Renaissance facades. The medieval walls have been integrated in the later residential houses over time. The parish church  St Mary Magdalena  date back into the 5th century. The last major restructuring was in 1622.

During the Roman period Mutvoran was a castrum. The walls were built in the 5th, and 6th century  and has tree door gates to enter the village. The town walls are several times by wars demolished and rebuilt again.

Place: Mutvoran – (Marčana)

Kršan’s castle – fortified village – is situated in the Rasa valley. It is mentioned in 1274 when the Aquileia Patriarchs and the Count of Pazin signed a peace after a conflict that started in 1268. During the 13th century the feud was part of the Aquileai Patriarchs dominion in Istria. In 1358 Kršan was occupied by Alberto IV Count of Pazin and in 1367  Kršan became a part of County of Pazin. After the dead of Alberto IV, Kršan passed to the Hapsburg family.

The parish church, built in the 17th century, is named St. Anthony. The 22 meter high bell tower was built in 1803.

Place: Kršan

Boljun is an fortified hilltop in the north eastern part of Istria below the Učka mountain and has a strategic position in the war between Venice and Austria. 100 – 200 meters away from the entrance to Boljun  against  the hill is an ruin of the  church St. Petra and a fount.

Near the main gate  is the church of St. Cosmo and Damian dating back to the 12th century. On the small square near the church is a Roman stone pillar from the first century.

The castle is from the 11th century. In boljun is a loggia  from 1500 and a “fontico” a grainery storage house, a 25 meters high bell tower , and the Parish Church St. George from 1641.

In 1064 Enrico IV donated Boljun to the Marquis of Istria Ulrich Weimar. In 1102 Ulrich II donated Boljun tot the Aquileia Patriarchs. From 1335 Boljun had many feudal rulers till 1480 when Boljun returned to the Habsburg family.

Name: Boljun castle

Place: Boljun – (Lupoglav)

The first castle in Lupoglav was built on a hill top of 530 meters, and from this side they had a strategic position  for control of the roads. The castle was built in the 11th century when the other castles in the Rasa field were built. This defence system was created to defend the eastern borders of Counts of Istria.

Lupoglav was important in the Istrian  history, because here started the formation of the County of Pazin. By the county of Pazin Istria was split for centuries in an Austrian and Venetian part.

In the beginning of the 17th century Lupoglav was a seat of the Uskoci army during the war between Austria and Venice. The Mahrenfels castle is not far away from the former castle and built in 1646 and got its name of the  Bavarian Archdukes the owners of Lupoglav.

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Name: Lupoglav – “Mahrenfels castle”

The Momjan castle was built bij Wosalcus de Mimiliano a nobleman of Duino on a rocky viewpoint above the valley of the stream called Argilla. It was a possession of the Counts of Gorizia and of the German patrician family of Raunicher. In 1548 it was sold to the family Rota, which lived in it until 1835.

Place: Momjan- (Buje)

Name: Momjan  castle

Kozljak is an fortified castle and located on the western part of Ucka mountain.  Kozljak was an important castle in the Rase river field and dates back to the 11th century and built by Marquis of Istria Ulrich I,  Weimar- Orlamunde. The first notice about Kozljak dates back into 1102, when Ulrich II donated the properties to the Aquileia Patriarchs .

Wachsenstein was named Kozjak at the time, and the rulers used to name themselves of Wachsenstein.

In 1374 Alberto IV, Count of Gorizia confirmed to a lord of the feud the ownership of Kozljak and some other villages. Her successors will continue to rule over Kozljak until 1668.

 

Name: Castle “Wachsenstein”

Place: Kozljak – (Kršan)

Roč is situated on a 344 meters hilltop in the northern part of Istria.

On the main gate is on a coat of arms an inscription of the year 1064. In the town is a small church St. Rock built in the 14th century with frescoes, and a Parish church  of St. Bartholomew from 1492 and parallel on it stands another smaller church  from the 12th century dedicated to Anthony the Abbot.

Roč was inhabited since prehistoric times  and became a Roman settlement  named Castrum Rotium and is later on in 1064 donated to Ulrich I of Weimar Orlamunde.

The walls are built from 1209 when the Aquileia Patriarchs ruled over Roč, but in 1412 when Roč was occupied by the Venetians, led by the Captain of Raspor Jacopa da Riva the town walls  were destroyed. The surviving  town walls and towers were built after the Venetian domination after 1421. The castle disappeared many years ago.

Since the 13th century Roč was the centre of the Glagolitic literature, typography and printing activity.  In the  church Anthony the Abbot houses the Glagolitic graffiti, known as the Glagolitic alphabet, dating back into the 12th century.

Place: Roč