Medvedgrad is a medieval fortified town

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

 located on the south slopes of Medvednica

Medvednica

Medvednica is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. The highest peak, at 1,035 m, is Sljeme. Most of the area of Medvednica is a nature park , a type of preservation lesser than a national park...

 mountain, approximately halfway from the Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n capital Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

 to the mountain top Sljeme

Šljeme

Šljeme is a village in the municipality of Ilijaš, Bosnia and Herzegovina.-References:...

. For defensive purposes it was built on a hill, Mali Plazur, that is a spur

Spur (mountain)

A spur is a subsidiary summit of a hill or mountain. By definition, spurs have low topographic prominence, as they are lower than their parent summit and are closely connected to them on the same ridgeline...

 of the main ridge of the mountain that overlooks the city. On a clear day the castle can be seen from far away, especially the high main tower. Below the main tower of the castle is Oltar Domovine (Altar of the homeland) which is dedicated to the fallen Croatian soldiers in the Croatian War of Independence

Croatian War of Independence

The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...

.

History

The fortress was constructed after the Mongol invasion of 1242 when the city of Zagreb was destroyed and burned to the ground.

It was built by Philippe (de genere Türje), bishop of Zagreb, between 1249 and 1254; later it was owned by bans of Sclavonia. After an earthquake in 1590 the fortress was heavily damaged and abandoned. It remained in ruins till recently when it was partly restored and now offers a panoramic view of the city from an altitude of over 500 metre.

Notable Croatian and Hungarian poet and ban of Slavonia Janus Pannonius

Janus Pannonius

Janus Pannonius was a Croatian and Hungarian Latinist, poet, diplomat and Bishop of Pécs.He was the only truly significant poet of the Renaissance in the Kingdom of Hungary and one of the better-known figures of Humanist poetry in Europe. He was born in a small village near the Drava river in a...

(Ivan Česmički) died in the Medvedgrad castle on March 27, 1472.

External links

• Medvedgrad pictures
• http://wikimapia.org/40736/ Medvedgrad Old City
• Medvedgrad Info
• 3D-model in google earth