Our town

Our town

Sveta Nedelja is a picturesque town not far from Zagreb. It sits next to the old Samobor road and the modern highway that connects Zagreb with the Slovenia and Europe. Sveta Nedelja was first mentioned in 1301 as one of the parishes of the Zagreb Archdiocese.

An act of the local government of 30 December 1992 established the municipality of Sveta Nedelja, which included the local communities Bestovje, Brezje, and Kerestinec along with Žitarka and Kalinovica, Mala Gorica with Srebrnjak, Novaki, Orešje, Rakitje, Strmec, Jagnjić Dol and Svetonedeljski Breg. The area covers 65 square kilometers and coincides with the former municipality and the Parish of the Holy Trinity. It is located west of Zagreb between the Sava River and the Okić and Samobor hills.

The entire area of Sveta Nedelja lies in the alluvial Sava lowland, sitting along a branch of the Samobor hills, which were formed in the Mesozoic era (the Triassic and Cretaceous Periods). Layers of limestone and marl originate from the Miocene Epoch and layers of Belvedere gravel from the Pliocene Epoch. In the Pleistocene Period, clay and gravel deposits were formed and covered the lowest branches of the Samobor hills. There is little reliable information on the immigration of Croats and only from Ladislav’s Grant (second half of the 13th century) can we more or less follow the history of Sveta Nedelja. The entire area all the way to the Sava belonged to the owners of Okić-grad. The Parish of Sveta Nedelja is still under the Okić deanery. The greatest point of interest in the area of Sveta Nedelja is the former two-story – and after the 1880 earthquake – the ground floor of the Kerestinec Castle. The Kerestinec estate was bought by Count Peter II Erdody in 1560. In 1575, his son Peter III became the new owner. The strong, safe castle soon became the permanent seat of the Erdody family. The castle has been rebuilt several times, and it current appearance has changed a lot compared to the original. Nevertheless, the castle still contains distinct elements of the fortifications and is a cultural monument of the first category.

Today’s Parish of the Holy Trinity in Sveta Nedelja is a baroque building with an attractive ornamented ceiling. From 1760 to 1787, one of the most famous people of this region, the parish priest Mihalj Šilobod Bolšić, lived in the area. Bolšić was the creator of the first Croatian arithmetic, Arithmetika Horvatszka, published in the literary Kajkavian language in Zagreb in 1758.

This area is particularly interesting from an ethnological point of view. Until the end of the Second World War, it was administratively connected and it represents a separate entity. The national costume can be traced from the middle of the 19th century in its basic forms and functions, which are in constant change. The villages of this area are located half-way between Samobor and Zagreb and are open to their influences more than some of the more isolated villages of the Samobor municipality. The inhabitants of this area were once mainly engaged in agriculture, mostly growing flax and hemp, the fibers that are the basis of national costumes of both men and women.

However, the economic base of the area has completely changed in the last 50 years. The first industrial plants appeared on the eve of the Second World War, but the real industrial explosion occurred in the late 1960’s. With the already formed industrial centers of Kerestinec, Brezje and Rakitje, the so-called industrial zone Novaki-Bestovje south of the Samobor-Podsused road was formed. It extended on the north side toward Strmec and toward the triangle of Betonska cesta, Potok Rakovica and the highway. Today, Sveta Nedelja is the youngest town in the county, achieving that status in 2006.

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