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Medieval castello and castle Mali Tabor in Prišlin
Ivančica Pavišić
Abstract
Even though older, the castello Mali Tabor was mentioned in written sources for the first time by the end of the 15th century. In the records of the Ratkaj family there is no information, which would point to its time of construction and the constructors with precision. From the second half of the 13th century, the nearby aristocratic town of Vrbovec had been the residence of the nobility of Vrbovec or Veliki Tabor. With the fall of this town by mid-15th century, the castello Mali Tabor took over the function of residence. From 1490 to 1504 it was in the ownership of the Croatian-Hungarian Banus Ivaniš Korvin. For almost three centuries, it was governed by the powerful Hungarian family Rattkay (1524 − 1793). In the course of their reign, by the end of the 17th century, the Renaissance castello was remodelled into a two-winged castle with an inner yard and four cylindrical towers. From this castle, the west and north defence walls have been preserved. In the 19th century, it was upgraded into a one-story baroque castle, when the north defence wall of the castello was demolished, and the space between the economic building and the annex of the east castle wing gained a new entrance portal which has been preserved until present day.
This year’s archaeological research on the castle Mali Tabor had the character of preventive protection of the west castle defence wall. By the removal and clearing of the years old shrubbery, we managed to define the construction of the west outer wall, which has been preserved in the height of 50 cm up to 2.15 m, and in the wall length of 21 m. On the outer side towards the west, the wall has a series (three − four) of strong buttresses, which are in a really ruinous condition. The west outer wall was built of crudely processed stone and binded with mortar, which was placed in partly regular rows with infills of smaller stones. To the west outer wall, in the foundation footing with the same building structure, a semi-circular wall was connected. The wall outlined the walls of the fourth (northwest) tower of the castle. The tower has been completely preserved in its ground plan, with a wall height somewhat above the entrance threshold level, which has been entirely preserved. The tower carries similar dimensions as the remaining three preserved towers with an entrance from the yard, followed on the northern side by a wall of the same structure as the west outer wall, which was probably connected to the northeastern tower.
The significance of the castello and the castle Mali Tabor as a monument lies in its characteristics of both a Renaissance castello and an Early Baroque castle and the fact that it belongs to the rare examples of medieval secular architecture in the region of continental Croatia.
Keywords
Castle Mali Tabor; profan architecture; rescue archaeological excavation; Hrvatsko zagorje
Hrčak ID:
13239
URI
Publication date:
5.6.2007.
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