The Town

Varaždin is not only one of the most beautiful and oldest towns in Croatia, it is also one of the most distinctive ones, with a clearly profiled identity – Varaždin is the town of baroque, music and flowers.

The area of Varaždin had been settled even in Roman times. Varaždin was the first town in Croatia to earn the status of a free royal town as far back as 1220. Due to its privileged status of a free royal town as well as its geostrategic position, in the far 15th century Varaždin became a significant trading, crafts and guild centre, social, administrative and road centre of the North-West Croatia. Even in those times Varaždin possessed its coat of arms representing the construction activity. In 1523 Earl Juraj Bradenburg presented the town hall building to its citizens which has practically retained its original function until today, thus possessing one of the oldest town halls in Europe.

Marie Theres founded the first modern Croatian government, Croatian Royal council, whose headquarters were in Varaždin, but after a big fire in 1776 they were moved to Zagreb. For a brief period of time, between 1767 and 1776, Varaždin was the capital of Croatia. After the fire, thanks to its hardworking and skilled citizens, especially craftsmen and tradesmen, Varaždin was restored again to a great extent. The restoration, which included significant spread of the town area, continued throughout 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, with renewed strengthening of crafts, textile and construction industry, as well as other economic activities.

Today the population of Varaždin is about 50.000. It is an administrative, economic, cultural, educational and traffic centre of Varaždin County, as well as the Central European city „of the right size“.