Cakovec Things to Do

The rest of the old castle that belonged to croatian counts and warlords Zrinski is a must see when visiting Cakovec. The castle was built from 16th to 18th century under the Governor Nikola Zrinski, who rebuilt the Cakovec Castrum into a strong Renaissance fortress in the face of the Turkish threat. The new single-storey palace was encirkled by a system of strong defence walls, next to the existing walls with semicircular towers Renaissance bastions were erected.
Unfortunatelly, the wall on the right side is pretty ruined now.
The castle is situated in the centre of the city and around it is a huge park and one can make beautiful walks through it.

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Even if the castle itself is closed (and the museum within) you can still wander through its courtyard, and around its walls and grounds.

Although the walls mostly date from the 16th-17th century the gateway through which one walks to/from the town square seemed to me to be older than the rest. Perhaps it dates from the earlier castle (13th century) or maybe they just re-used the stones.

The walls are pretty impressive: the perceived threat from the Ottoman empire must have seemed pretty serious at the time.

Worth an exploration...and the surrounding parkland is shady and pleasant.

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The building of Children's Hospitium was built in 1789 and served as a lodging for apprentices who were learning their skills at one of Cakovec's craftsmen. It was also sort of a hotel since it offered lodging for travellers who hapenned to pass by.

Between the two world wars the building was turned into a hotel. I'm not sure what is the purpose of the building today, but there is a nice cafe/pizzeria in its green courtyard.

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Cakovec is rather small (30,000 inhabitants) so its center is quite compact as well. Next to the park that surrounds the Zrinski's Castle is a system of several pedestrian streets. This is town's living room, full of cafes and street terraces. But, it seems people of Cakovec prefer some real outdoor activities - like fishing on Drava river, wine tasting on Medjimurje wine roads etc. so the place looked quite deserted when we were here.

(I didn't mind that since this meant I had an unobstructed views of the colorful houses lined up along the streets and squares of central Cakovec.)

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Trgovacki Casino (Merchant's Casino) was built in 1903 in Hungarian Secession style. Although the main function of its main room was card playing, this Casino has nothing to do with gambling. The purpose of this building was primarily social gatherings of Cakovec's upper and middle class citizens: besides the cards room there was a special room for the ladies, reading room and a ball room.

The building was financed by Merchant's Union, the architect is Hungarian Odon Horvath.

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The Franciscan Monastery was built in the beginning of the 18th century at the place of the older wooden building that was demolished in fire.
The new Baroque church was built in 1728 and surprisingly does not have the name of St. Francis. (I wonder if the fact that Nikola Zrinski was the main patron has anything to do with the fact that the church is consecrated to St. Nicholas?).

The church now dominates the Franciscan square that connects to the system of pedestrianized streets of central Cakovec.

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The Old Town of Cakovec is surrounded by a large park named after the Zrinski family (no surprises here). It is a typical 19th century park with its main entrance at Trg Republike, that connects to main pedestrian street of Cakovec.

On its southern part park offers few children playgrounds and a modern fountain, opening to the southern suburbs. In the northern part, next to the cultural centre, there are few modern open air sculptures.

A nice and popular place for walking, jogging and children playing.

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The Old Town of Cakovec lies in the center of town, surrounded by a large park. The first fortress built at this place dates back to the 13th century when Count Dimitrius Chaky, the Court Magistrate of King Bela IV, had built a wooden defence tower. The tower was named Chaktornya (meaning Chak's tower), and gave the name to today's Cakovec.

Soon the real town developed around the tower and in the Middle Ages a fortress was built at this place.