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 Koprivnica
A town on the left bank of the small river of the
same name in the region of Podravina, 70 km southeast of Varazdin;
elevation 149 m; population 24,238. Koprivnica got the status of
a free royal town in 1356. Economy is based on farming, livestock
breeding, food (Podravka), pharmaceutical (Belupo), textile, wood
and timber, paper, leather, metal-processing and building material
(brickwork) industries. The town is located at the intersection
of the main roads from Zagreb and Varazdin toward Virovitica and
Osijek (M3), as well as on the junction of the railroads Budapest
- Zagreb and Varazdin - Osijek.
Due to the Ottoman peril, the town was fortified
by a strong quadrangular tower in the 16th century (the construction
was supervised by D. dell'Allio); only the remains of it have been
preserved, and the fortification was replaced by a large park. -
The parish church of St. Nicholas with a high belfry dates back
to the 17th century, and the Orthodox church of the Holy Spirit
was built in 1793. The complex of the church of St. Anthony of Padua
with a Franciscan monastery was finished in 1685. Due to the plague
in 1745 the Varazdin military district attached the chapel of St.
Salvatore. The finely carved late Renaissance tombstone of a boy
named Gotthard Schratenpachs (1608) was built in on the parsonage.
Apart from the churches, there are several other churches which
date back to the Baroque period (e.g. Arsenal, 1714), as well as
public monuments (a group of five columns, the column of Sorrowful
Christ, the statue of St. John Nepomuk from 1747). - The Koprivnica
Town Museum (established in 1951) keeps various exhibits of archaeological,
cultural, historical, artistic and ethnographic value. Within the
Museum are the Koprivnica Gallery (1977), the "Danica"
Memorial Museum and the "Dr. Vladimir Malancec" Donation,
as well as the Native Collection in Delekovac, the Hlebine Gallery,
the Collection of Ivan Generalic in Hlebine and the Gallery of Statues
by I. Sabolic in Peteranec. Public places are adorned with sculptures
of Croatian sculptors (I. Sabolic, Z. Loncaric, A. Jakic). - In
the vicinity of Koprivnica, in Mocile, is the church of St. Mary;
its construction started in 1700; the massive bell tower and the
porch were attached along the main front. The church features well
preserved furniture from the 18th and the 19th centuries.
Koprivnica is the centre of this part of Podravina.
The development of tourism in the region is facilitated by rich
cultural heritage and powerful economic potential.
Sports activities include handball, football, carting
and horseback riding. The town offers various recreational opportunities,
especially on the nearby Drava river and at the so-called "Podravina
Riviera" - gravel pit Soderica. Fishing (angling) opportun-ities
are provided on the Drava river and in the lakes Soderica, Jegenis,
Vidak, etc. Hunting grounds are located in the vicinity of Koprivnica
- in the lowlands and at the foot of Kalnik and Bilogora. The best
known hunting grounds are Peski and Repas.
Numerous restaurants in the town and its surroundings
offer delicious traditional Podravina-style specialities ("prge"
- dried and smoked cheese, aspic /jelly/, mushroom soup with buckwheat,
"goriski" goulash, etc.).
The traditional cultural event, naive art exhibition
Podravski Motivi (Podravina Motifs) is held at the beginning of
July.
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