ZAGREB, Dec 20 (Hina) - The Cultural and architectural wealth, +unfamiliar even to many Croatians, is presented in a recently +published monograph "Castles and Gardens in Slavonia - from Zagreb +to Ilok", a book by Mladen and Bojana
Scitaroci. + The monograph describes sixty castles, located between Zagreb and +the most eastern Croatian town of Ilok, previously owned by +Croatian aristocracy.+ The book introduces the culture of living and the medieval +tradition of the Croatian nobility between the 17th and early 20th +centuries. The monograph includs photographs of the castles and +gardens, family portraits, nobilities' coats of arms, blueprints +of the castles, land registries, and squire property maps. + Mladen Obad Scitaroci is a professor at the Zagreb Architectural +Faculty, and his wife, Bojana Bojanic Obad Scitaroci, is an +freelance scientific researcher.+ Six years ago, Mladen Scitaroci,
ZAGREB, Dec 20 (Hina) - The Cultural and architectural wealth,
unfamiliar even to many Croatians, is presented in a recently
published monograph "Castles and Gardens in Slavonia - from Zagreb
to Ilok", a book by Mladen and Bojana Scitaroci.
The monograph describes sixty castles, located between Zagreb and
the most eastern Croatian town of Ilok, previously owned by
Croatian aristocracy.
The book introduces the culture of living and the medieval
tradition of the Croatian nobility between the 17th and early 20th
centuries. The monograph includs photographs of the castles and
gardens, family portraits, nobilities' coats of arms, blueprints
of the castles, land registries, and squire property maps.
Mladen Obad Scitaroci is a professor at the Zagreb Architectural
Faculty, and his wife, Bojana Bojanic Obad Scitaroci, is an
freelance scientific researcher.
Six years ago, Mladen Scitaroci, person of a noble background,
published a book "Castles and Gardens of Hrvatsko Zagorje" (region
south-west from Zagreb).
"I did not sent that book to any publisher, however, I received
praises from Princ Charles, the Harvard Library, and so on",
Scitaroci said.
"English painter Paul Hogarth, inspired by the book, came to
Croatia and made a series of water colour paintings of Zagorje
castles.
Inspired by the great success of his book, Scitaroci decided to
continue his research in Slavonija (a region east of Zagreb,
bordering with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).
The new book was presented last week in Zagreb.
"The Slavonia castles demonstrate a variety of styles, from the
late Gothic, central European renaissance, baroque, and
classicism, up to neo-romanticism and historicism", Scitaroci
said.
According to his research, the first castle in Slavonia was built in
1720, in Bilje, by Prince Eugen Savojski, a famous Austrian
captain. The castle was built on a property given to Prince Eugen
Savojski by empire Leopold First.
The builder of the castle cannot be claimed with certainty, but some
evidence lead to Johan Lucas von Hildebarndt, a builder of the
Belvedere palace, Scitaroci stressed.
Large number of the Slavonija castles and gardens are in very bad
shape, Scitaroci noted. He believed that the Croatian Government
should make a catalogue of the castles for reconstruction, on the
model of the catalogue for the reconstruction of Vukovar, a baroque
town destroyed by Serbian aggression in 1991.
In his two books, Scitaroci included castles north of the Sava
River, namely one half of all castles in Croatia.
(hina) it/lml