Križevci, Croatia

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Križevci
—  Town  —
Križevci, Croatia is located in Croatia
Križevci
Location of Križevci in Croatia
Coordinates: 46°01′33″N 16°32′33″E / 46.02583°N 16.54250°E / 46.02583; 16.54250Coordinates: 46°01′33″N 16°32′33″E / 46.02583°N 16.54250°E / 46.02583; 16.54250
Country Croatia
County Koprivnica-Križevci County
Government
 • Mayor Branko Hrg (HSS)
Area
 • Total 263.72 km2 (101.82 sq mi)
Elevation 140 m (460 ft)
Population (2011)1
 • Total 21,155
 • Density Bad rounding here80/km2 (Bad rounding here210/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 48260
Area code(s) 048
Vehicle registration KŽ
Website http://www.krizevci.hr/

Križevci (Latin: Crisium, Hungarian: Kőrös, German: Kreutz) is a town in central Croatia with a total population of 21,155 and with 11,219 in the city itself (2011),1 the oldest town in its county, the Koprivnica-Križevci County.

Saint Anne's Church

Contents

History

The first mention of the so-called Upper Križevac was from 1193 by Béla III, obtaining the status of Royal Borough2 in 1252 by the ban Stephan which was confirmed by King Béla IV a year later. The so-called Lower Križevac developed somewhat slower than its twin town: it became a free royal town in 1405, thanks to king Sigismund.

Bloody Sabor of Križevci (Croatian: Krvavi Sabor u Križevcima) was organised killing of the Croatian ban Stjepan Lacković and his followers by king Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, on 27 February 1397.3

Križevac was the birthplace of a Catholic priest Marko who died at the hand of Calvinists in Košice in 1619, and was subsequently canonized because of his martyrdom. This event is commemorated every September 7 in Križevci.

After centuries of division, empress Maria Theresa of Austria united the Lower and Upper Križevac into Križevci in 1752 (the word Križevci is plural of Križevac). The town was also hit by the wars with the Turks, but it regained importance in 1871 when the railway was built through it on the way from Budapest to Rijeka.

These days the town is pretty much oriented towards mass entrepreneurship, but it still enjoys the greatest number of valuable and oldest monuments in the county (both in the town and its surroundings).

Križevci has nine churches (seven Catholic, a Serbian Orthodox and a Greek Catholic one), some of them built in the Middle Ages. In the oldest Gothic Church of Saint Cross in Križevci, there are important Baroque pictures and a marble altar dating from the 18th century (by Francesco Robba). Also interesting is the parish church of St. Anne from the 17th century.

Greek Catholic Cathedral

Of particular note is the Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the seat of the Eparchy of Križevci since 1789. The cathedral building was worked on by some of Zagreb's finest architects: its facade was rebuilt by Bartol Felbinger in 1817 while an internal reconstruction was performed in the Gothic revival style by Hermann Bolle in 1892-97. The iconostasis and the pictures on the walls are works of famous Croatian painters including Ivan Tišov, Celestin Medović and Bela Čikoš-Sesija.

The city museum exhibits a rich archeological, ethnographic and cultural-historical collection.

The main town manifestation is called Križevačko veliko spravišče, commemorated yearly, when the local cultural traditions are displayed during a fiesta that lasts throughout the first full weekend of July. According to legend, this feast originates from a 14th century feast of reconciliation between the previously hostile communities of merchants from the towns of Križevac and the nobility from the nearby Kalnik hillside.

Geography

Križevci is a city in Koprivnica-Križevci County. Because of its nearness to Zagreb (57 km), Križevci is developing like a satellite city. It has a good position because it's close to all regional centers: Koprivnica (31 km), Bjelovar (33 km) and Varaždin (48 km). Very important fact for establishing the city was its macro traffical position. This place was known already in antics and Middle Ages because that was where the main caravan roads crossed, and there was a famous king's Coloman road that was going through Križevci. That road was connecting Pannonia and Dalmatia. In its closer past, many roads and other types of traffic connections were built: Many macadamic roads that connects Posavina, region around Kalnik and Podravina (there were all already finished in 18th century), the railroad from Hungary to Zagreb, that goes through Koprivnica and Križevci (1870.), and to Bjelovar (1894). Today, city is still important because it connects Bjelovar and Koprivnica, big regional centers, and because it's the place where many regional roads starts from direction of Bjelovar, Gornja Rijeka and Sudovec, valley of the river Bednja, zelinsko prigorje over Čanjevo and from Rasinja over Apatovec. Križevci lies on 140 m above the level of the sea, where the southern part of Kalnik begins.

Topograffically, it lies on pleistocene surface, between swamped alluvial valleys of the brook Vrtlin from the east and the brook Koruska from the west. Relief, geological-petrografical structure, convenient climate and abundance of water, all these were elements of economical and demographic development of the city. Modern demographic-economical transformation has changed relations in space and structure of population, and it's seeable through processes of deagrarization, industrialization and deruralization. This effected with abandonning agricultural production, abandonning villages and moving to Križevci.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, Croats forming an absolute majority at 95.37% with Serbs making up for the 2.29% of the population.

The list of settlements in the administrative area of Križevci is:1

Education

Križevci is home to the College of Agriculture at Križevci,4 founded in 1860 as the Royal Agriculture and Forestry College.5

Culture

Križevci is home to a monument to the 37 people from the city who died in the Croatian War of Independence entitled the Mother of the Dead Hero.6

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011, First Results by Settlements" (HTML). Statistical Reports (in Croatian and English) (Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics) (1441). June 2011. ISSN 1332-0297. Retrieved 2011-08-17. 
  2. ^ Križevci.eu - history / golden bull
  3. ^ Križevci Bloody Assembly krizevci.eu
  4. ^ College of Agriculture at Križevci. Accessed: April 13, 2013.
  5. ^ Husinec, Renata, and Dejan Marenčić. n.d. "Križevci College of Agriculture." Accessed: April 13, 2013.
  6. ^ Otkrivena 'Majka poginulog junaka'

External links

Towns
Coat of arms of Koprivnica-Križevci County
Municipalities