Municipality of Lupoglav
Municipality of Lupoglav is situated in the north-east part of the Istrian County and borders with Municipalities Lanišće, Cerovlje and the City of Buzet in Istria, and with Primorje-Gorski kotar County in the east.
924 inhabitants, 94 km²
Municipality of Lupoglav covers 94 km2, and according to 2011 Census, it has 924 inhabitants.
White and grey Istria
The Municipality stretches all the way to the slopes of Učka Mountain and Ćićarija, and to Boljunsko Polje in the south. In this area, two out of three geomorphological areas of the County meet: “White Istria” (the Učka-Ćićarija massif) and “Grey Istria” (mostly flysch area). The settlements in this area show significant differences in morphological and typological sense.
The settlements in “White Istria” are concentrated, with irregular layouts where often several residential and farming houses surround a communal yard, thus forming a relatively safe closed set of buildings.
The settlements in “Grey Istria” are typically of a limited form, well adapted to the terrain, with a vista and silhouette that respect the standard of the environment. These are urban and rural settlements of small size, on a hill, closely set with small areas of arable land
The history of Lupoglav
The first written mention of Lupoglav is probably the one from the grant by king Henry IV in 1064, under the name of Lompaga, As Castrum the Lupoglau, it was mentioned in 1264, when the Patriarch of Aquileia gave the land to Henry of Pazin. Since then, Lupoglav has shared its destiny with the rest of the Pazin County, and was first under the rule of Counts from Gorizia and then the Habsburgs.
The fort in which castellans of various feudal families had their seat (Eberstein, Herberstein, Kružić, Sinković and Eggenberg) was the Castle Mahrenfels about which much sparse data is preserved, and a few almost romantic episodes. After the death of Couznt Eggenberg, the new owner became Count Brigido who decided to abandon the old castle on a hardly accessible hill, and built a new country castle for the family on the plain.
Castle Brigido was built in 1634, after the family bought the County of Lupoglav, and it belonged to the family until 1883. They successfully implemented new ways of production on their estate, especially in cattle breeding. Many Istrian farmers sent their heirs there to learn practical jobs related to farm management and agriculture.
Ideal for recreationists and climbers
The vicinity of the Nature Park Učka makes Lupoglav an unavoidable starting point for walking and climbing, and it also presents and alpine challenge to many freestyle climbers and recreationists in the locality with unique geomorphological phenomena in Croatia.
Environmental preservation of the protected landscape of all settlements in Municipality of Lupoglav: Boljun, Boljunsko Polje, Brest pod Učkom, Dolenja Vas, Lesišćina, Semić and Vranja and their stunning views of limestone towers certainly stay deeply engraved in memory and time and again demand admiration for the greatest architect of all time – nature.