Castles

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.

oglao

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