Oršić Castle in Gornja Bistra, Baroque castle in Gornja Bistra, Croatia
Oršić Castle is a three-winged baroque castle in Gornja Bistra, built around 1770–1775, with a U-shaped plan. Rooms line an arcaded corridor facing the courtyard, and the central axis holds an oval hall with illusionistic wall paintings from 1778 showing Jupiter, Venus, Diana and Kronos.
Count Krsto II Oršić, a lieutenant field marshal and Zagreb County prefect, had the castle built between about 1770 and 1775 to designs by an unknown architect, after his military career under Maria Theresa. His wife Josipa Zichy, known for her educational work and a book on treating animals, died in Oroslavje in 1778, shortly after the castle was finished; Krsto died four years later in Zagreb. The building is listed as protected cultural property Z-1896.
The interior chapel displays illusionist paintings and a baroque altar that reflect the artistic taste of Croatian nobility in the 18th century. This decoration gives visitors a sense of how wealthy families of that era furnished their private spaces.
The castle now houses a hospital for chronic childhood diseases, so it is not open to tourists. It stands in Gornja Bistra near Zaprešić, in the Hrvatsko zagorje region, and can be viewed from the outside. The surrounding park, once a French baroque garden, survives only in a late-18th-century plan.
The castle's oval hall on the second floor is painted with illusionistic wall paintings from 1778 by an unknown master. They show the gods Jupiter, Venus, Diana and Kronos in painted niches, while the dome depicts Diana and Apollo seated on clouds surrounded by muses. The chapel of St Joseph, completed in 1774, is noted for its painted altars.
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