“The Bosiljevo castle is the cornerstone of the development and life in our municipality. For years, thanks to the funds of the Ministry of Culture, which each year provides between 100,000 to 300,000 kuna, and our own money, we have been able to invest in the castle and repair it. But for the castle to be fully restored and put into use, we would need to invest around 15 million euro. We will certainly ask for money from EU funds,” said Josip Kasun, the municipal mayor of Bosiljevo, at the signing ceremony for contracts which gave his municipality, as well as Cetingrad, Josipdol and Rakovica, permanent ownership of the castles located there. These are just some of the Karlovac area castles, reports Lokalni.hr on January 11, 2019.

Tomislav Boban, the state secretary at the Ministry of State Property, said that the initiative of the Karlovac County to “unite” about a dozen castles and forts, including these four, as well as the so-called “Karlovac Star”, through a tourist project called the "Touch of Civilizations" was a valuable and unique idea. By acquiring ownership over the castles, the municipalities can now independently run projects and seek financial partnerships.

“We plan to develop tourism on this basis, and the Touch of Civilizations project is worth up to 80 million euro. It is an adventure that will last for years and bring tourists to our municipalities. Here I see a major role for the Karla agency, which can go to Brussels to directly ask for grants, why not?” said county Prefect Damir Jelić.

Franjo Franjković said that the municipality of Rakovica already had complete project documentation and the building permit for the renovation of the Drežnik old town. The municipality will now be able to apply for EU funds alone or together with others to receive funds for the entire Drežnik, which is becoming more and more interesting to tourists.

The Josipdol municipality has been investing in the Modruš old town since 2006, thanks to the funds of the Ministry of Culture and its own. Major works started three years ago, and Modruš is now a construction site. “Modruš is a beautiful old town visible from the A1 motorway, so we already have tourists from Asia who come to us on their way to the Plitvice Lakes national park. From the viewing point you can see this whole region, all the way to the Sljeme mountain near Zagreb,” said Mayor Zlatko Mihaljević.

Marina Kalić, the mayor of Cetingrad, plans to renovate the Cetin old town in time to mark the 500th anniversary of the congregation of the Croatian nobility in eight years. That is considered to be the first sitting of the Croatian parliament. The mayor has started preparing all the necessary documentation for applying to EU funds for further reconstruction.

More news on castles in Croatia can be found in our Travel section.

Translated from Lokalni.hr (reported by Snježana Bičak).

ZAGREB, November 7, 2018 - The Varaždin Town Museum is taking part in a 1.5 million euro European project - Living Castles - aimed at connecting castles in Slovenia and northern Croatia, it was said on Tuesday in Varaždin.

The focus of the Living Castles project is to preserve and promote cultural heritage and evaluate seven sites through the development of joint cross-border tourism programmes and the integration of innovative activities in preserving and presenting heritage.

The project encompasses Varaždin's 'Old Town,' the Old Town of Čakovec, Veliki Tabor, Oršić Castle in Gornja Stubica in Croatia and the Ptuj, Celje and Rakičan castles in Slovenia.

The total value of the project, that will be implemented until the end of March 2021, is almost 1.5 million euro and 85% of that amount will be co-financed by the EU within the Interreg V-A Slovenia-Croatia 2014-2020 programme.

The Varaždin Museum director, Ivan Mesek, underscored that the project will enable the modernisation of the holdings of the museum in Varaždin. "The Varaždin Town Museum has 200,000 artefacts, most of which are hidden from the public's view. The whole of Varaždin would need to be a museum to be able to exhibit everything we have. Modern technology is essential to present everything that is interesting in our fund," Mesek said.

Modernisation means hologram projections, 3D projections, touch screens and the like, said Ljerka Šimunić, an associate on the project.

The project result will be the joint presentation of these seven castles and the expected outcome is to increase the number of visitors by more than 5%. The concerning castles and museums register annually approximately between 15,000 and 80,000 visitors. More than 50,000 people visit Varaždin's Old Town a year.

To read more about Varaždin, click here. For more on some of the numerous castles in Croatia, click here.

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