Mali Tabor
THE ABANDONED CASTLE IN CROATIA
The ‘Mali Tabor’ Castle is mentioned for the first time in written Croatian sources at the end of the 15th century. The Ratkay family owned the site, but its builders are unknown to this day.
Mali Tabor, the former castle and later palace, was built on an important strategic point, providing visual contact with nearby major medieval castles.
Historical sources from 1511 mentions the term castellum, meaning castle or small fort, for Mali Tabor. The first known owners were Ivana Korvina, son of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. He owned the castle from 1490 until 1504. After Korvina died, the property was owned by Juraj Brandenburg until 1524. Brandenburg sold the building to Ratkay family. In 1772, Ivan Ratkay left the Mali Tabor castle to his nephew, the baron Joseph Wintershoffen, in whose possession it remained until 1818. Rikard Jelačić from Zaprešić inherited the castle some years later. He owned the castle until 1876, and from then it was owned by the Irish baron Henry Cavanagh, whose descendants kept the castle until the end of the Second World War.
In the earliest phase of construction, the castle had the shape of a rectangular building with defense walls and four semi-towers. The western wall, is probably the original defense wall of the old Mali Tabor castle.
Palace
In the second phase of construction, workers transformed the castle into a one-storied Baroque palace. It served in this capacity until the 19th century. Builders erected a one-storied annex in the eastern wing of the castle’s northern side in 1861. During this time, they also demolished the northern defense wall and constructed a new entrance portal, which remains intact to this day. The castle has been abandoned for many years now and is in poor condition. It is currently up for sale. These photos of ‘Mali Tabor’ were captured in 2018.
