The castle and the International Sculpture park in Jakovlje
About the Castle
Jakovlje is a small village located 30 kilometers from Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. In the middle of the village, near the local school and on a slightly elevated land, there is a castle that has been architecturally developed and changed from the 16th to the 19th centuries, but its present appearance is dominantly historicistic (completed after 1880).
Most likely the castle was upgraded three times. In the beginning it was a "Curia de Jakovlye". Now the castle is a third category monument. On the ground floor there are three-piece barrel vaulted rooms. On the floor there are eight symmetrically arranged rooms. The high basement is entered from the rear of the castle that is flat with only a narrow projection in the middle.
In the late 18th century, this single-organized castle opened to the two side wings. Each wing has its own, relatively modest, wooden staircase with no bold style attributes. Wings rely on the side of the facade, but for part of its width protrude beyond. On the floor there are few adapted rooms. The older part of the castle is more beautiful and more luxurious than the reconstructed wings.
In the third period of the construction of the castle its central part got a new facade, a porch in front and a portal that looks very luxurious and reminiscent of European castles. The ground floor lobby got balustrade of clay. In the main lobby there is an imposing stairway built in high style, the only interior decoration of the castle. These elements are likely to occur after the earthquake in year 1880.
The castle was originally built as a living space and a place for repose, later it became school with teachers' apartments. From 1972 studios of Croatian sculptors and painters are in the castle. In 1979 north wing burnt in a big fire. Another earthquake, in 1990, demolished the castle: the chimney was broken as well as the central part of the roof and the entire left wing. Than in 2002 the Croatian Ministry of Culture restored the castle. Miljenko Matas made the plans for the reconstruction of the entire castle. In 2008 the permission was obtained for the reconstruction of the north wing, and a year later the Ministry approved another budget for the work to continue. From December 2009, according to the project of renovating the entire castle, began the demolition of the north wing of the castle. Supervision of works was carried by the Conservation Department of the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Zagreb, and the costs were entirely covered by the Ministry of Culture. The reconstruction project, according to the building permit, includes the construction of the north wing of the castle and the restoration of carpentry, facades and the park around the castle. (Taken from Wikipedia)
