| This fort, with its four squat corner towers and a central turret looming over the entrance gates, has at once the naïve feel of a castle from a storybook and the forbidding aura of Dracula’s castle, an atmosphere which is nowadays offset by a recent lemon-yellow paint job. Today this place is rather off the beaten track but it was once the centre of public life in Turopolje. Lukavec’s roots reach back to the 13th century, but it is thought the fort building dates from the 15th century when the area was increasingly under attack by Ottoman armies. It was originally a wooden structure, today’s stone edifice only being built in 1705. The primary role of this building was defensive but the Lukavec fort fulfilled all the functions of a town hall until the building now housing today’s Turopolje Museum was erected in 1765. However, all the important documents, seals and property were in safekeeping at Lukavec until 1848, when they were taken to the town hall. The fort’s tall central turret houses a chapel consecrated to St Lucy, patron saint of Turopolje, and above the main doors you’ll see two lions holding the shield of the Noble Community of Turopolje. |