Varazdin county is the oldest Croatian county. It was for the first time mentioned as early as on 20 August 1181 in one Charter of the Croatian-Hungarian King Bella III together with the Varaždin County Prefect named Belec from 1131. Throughout most of its history the County of Varaždin comprised the territory of today’s County of Krapina and Zagorje, and parts of the County of Koprivnica and Križevci and of the County of Međimurje.

Varaždin – a historical centre of the County
The Town of Varaždin, one of the oldest Croatian cities, has always been an administrative, cultural and educational centre of the County of Varaždin. As early as in 1209 it was the first town to acquire the status of a free royal town. With its baroque centre, a rich sacral architecture, and an exceptionally valuable artistic inventory, it is a very important name in the history of the entire Croatia: situated at the crossroads of European paths, it proudly bore the name of the capital of Croatian Kingdom for ten years (1767-1776).

Cultural heritage
The cultural heritage of the County of Varaždin is of great and eternal value. The traces of the pre-historic man, the foundations of roman fortresses on the Drava limes, and of the roads connecting Eastern borders with the centre of the empire, the remains of the Romanesque period, the Gothic church towers, the fragments of frescos on the remaining walls of the Middle Age fortresses, the imprints of Renaissance on facades and, finally, Baroque that permanently changed the landscape in a beautiful harmony between the building skills and exceptional natural beauty.