Karlovac

Name

The city was named after its founder, Charles II, Archduke of Austria. The German name Karlstadt or Carlstadt ("Charlestown") has the equivalence in various languages: in Hungarian it is known as Károlyváros, in Italian as Carlovizza, in Latin as Carolostadium, and in Kajkavian dialect and Slovene as Karlovec.

History

The Austrians built Karlovac from scratch in 1579 in order to strengthen their southern defences against Ottoman encroachments. The establishment of a new city-fortress was a part of the deal between the Protestant nobility of Inner Austria and the archduke Charles II of Austria. In exchange for their religious freedom the nobility agreed to finance the building of a new fortress against the Ottoman Empire. It was founded as a six-pointed star fortress built on the Zrinski estate near the old town of Dubovac at the confluence of the Kupa and Korana rivers. As the city later expanded, the urban area reached as far as the Mrežnica and Dobra rivers. The star shape can still be seen around the town. It was originally known as Karlstadt ("Charles's Town" in German), after the ruling family, upon whose orders construction began on 13 July 1579. The architect of the city was Matija Gambon, whilst work on the new fortress was supervised by George Khevenhüller. It was intentionally built on terrain exposed to flooding and disease from unhealthy water, with the intent to hamper the Turkish advance.

The fortress itself was largely complete by September 1580, while moats and ramparts were finished later, between 1582 and 1589. The first church (of the Holy Trinity) was built in the central square in 1580, but all of the city buildings burned down in the fire of 1594. By 1610, moats and ramparts were repaired, and houses were rebuilt.

During the fortification of Karlovac in 1588, its supply chain consisted of Dubovac, Novigrad, Bosiljevo and Ribnik on the one hand, and Ozalj on the other owing the same as the previous four. Each owed 6 carts of timber, and although there were complaints about the conduct of the soldiers stationed in Karlovac, the order was complied with.

As a military outpost of the Habsburg monarchy, Karlovac was one of the first headquarters of the general command of the Military Frontier. It was the site of the trial and execution of the best-known leader of the rebel Uskoks from the coastal fort of Senj, Ivan Vlatković. He was executed in Karlovac on 3 July 1612 as an example to his troops who were creating difficulties for the Habsburgs by their piracy against Venetian shipping on the Adriatic Sea, and by marauding raids into the Ottoman hinterland. In 1615 their piracy went so far as creating an open war between Venice and Austria. When the Treaty of Paris (ratified in Madrid) was concluded in 1617, bringing an end to the war between Venice and the Habsburgs, under the terms of the treaty the Uskok families were forcibly removed from Senj and disbanded into the hinterland, most notably in the Žumberak hills north of Karlovac.

19th century

The city was once the seat of the kotar court for an 1870 population of 53,148. In 1875, the kotar court of Karlovac was responsible for the općine: Karlovac city, Banija, Rečica, Draganić, Ozalj, Novigrad, Ribnik, Bosiljevo and Severin. The kotar court was subordinate to the royal court at Zagreb.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Karlovac was a district capital in the Zagreb County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In the late 19th century, a Matica hrvatska branch opened in Karlovac, with 214 members in 1891.

20th century

When the German and Italian Zones of Influence were revised on 24 June 1942, Karlovac was the only city within Zone III in which the Italians were allowed to leave troops, and these were alongside Croatian and German troops.

In 1990, City Council proclaimed Saint Joseph as city's patron saint. Karlovac suffered damage during the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995). The southern sections of the city found themselves close to the front lines between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbian Krajina, with shelling devastating the neighborhoods of Turanj, Kamensko, as well as parts of Mekušje, Mala Švarča and Logorište. The city center, the city hall, and numerous other buildings also suffered damage. It was also the site of the Korana bridge killings.

The Karlovac City Museum has transformed the old Austrian military barracks of Turanj into a museum exhibition dedicated to the military history of Karlovac and in particular, through the exhibited weapons, of the Croatian War of Independence.

Until the early 2000s, Karlovac's main industry consisted of brewing the beer "Karlovačko", produced by Karlovačka pivovara. By 2007, the rapidly growing firearms manufacturer HS Produkt had become the city's largest private employer. HS Produkt is arguably best known as the designer and manufacturer of the HS2000 pistol, sold in the United States as the Springfield Armory XD.

On 22 October 2016 Croatia's first freshwater aquarium, and the biggest in that part of Europe, named Aquatika was opened in Karlovac.

Description

Croatians know Karlovac as grad parkova (the city of parks) and grad na četiri rijeke (the town on four rivers) for its numerous green areas and four rivers, of which Mrežnica, Korana, and Kupa flow through built-up areas, and Dobra is a few kilometers outside the city centre. A documentary film made by Dušan Vukotić in 1979 on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city plays much on that theme, and shows pictures of happy bathers on the Korana's Fogina beach (Foginovo kupalište) in the city centre.

One of the rarer trees found in the parks is the Ginkgo biloba, which local primary school children are taken out to see as part of their classes on nature and society. Most of the parks are planted in the former trenches dug around the old military fort that were once filled with water as an added layer of protection from the marauding Ottoman armies. One part of the city centre maintains the name of Šanac ('trench') after the old trenches which preserve the old hexagonal form of the historic centre.

Climate

Since records began in 1949, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station at an elevation of 110 metres (360 ft) was 42.4 °C (108.3 °F), on 5 July 1950. The coldest temperature was −25.2 °C (−13.4 °F), on 16 February 1956.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Karlovac municipality had a total of 55,705 inhabitants. 49,140 of its citizens were Croats (88.21%), 4,460 were Serbs (8.01%), 250 were Bosniaks (0.45%), 237 were Albanians (0.43%), 72 were ethnic Macedonians (0.13%), 49 were Montenegrins (0.09%), and the rest were other ethnicities.

Population by religion in 2011 was following: 45,876 Roman Catholics (82.36%), 3,866 Orthodox Christians (6.94%), 2,806 Atheists (5.04%), 705 Muslims (1.27%), 488 Agnostics (0.88%), and others.

Much of the population of Karlovac has changed since the beginning of the 1991–95 Croatian War of Independence, with numerous families of Croatian Serbs fleeing and being replaced by people who were themselves displaced from parts of Croatia that were held by rebel Serbs during the war (such as from the town of Slunj), as well as by families of Bosnian Croats who started arriving during the war. The migration outflow was mostly towards Serbia, the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to countries of Western Europe, North America and Australia.

Settlements

As of 2021, the list of settlements included in the administrative area of the city of Karlovac includes:

Administrative division

The administrative sections of Karlovac are the city neighborhoods (gradske četvrti) and local administrative boards (mjesni odbori). The city neighborhoods are:

The local administrative boards are:

Economy

The first savings bank in Karlovac opened in 1872.

Culture

Karlovac Music School, one of the oldest educational music institutions from this part of Europe (established on 1 December 1804), is the home of Karlovac Piano Festival.

Karlovac Piano Festival (founded in 2013) is typically held in mid-summer, and consists of master classes with renowned piano pedagogues as well as Karlovac International Piano Competition.

Music school also hosts International guitar school, while in Karlovac theatre Zorin dom the "Croatia Flute Academy", a Leading Flute Masterclass in Europe has been traditionally held since 2014, so during summer months Karlovac is center of young artists of Europe.

In the 20th century, Karlovac was a breeding ground for young rock bands, most notably Elektroni in the 1960s and Nužni Izlaz, Prije svega disciplina, Duhovna pastva and Lorelei in the 1970s and the 1980s.

The city of Karlovac has memorial-sites dedicated to Croatian veterans of the nation's Homeland War and opened the Homeland War Museum in Turanj in 2019.

American singer Michael Jackson filmed a music video for his song "Earth Song" in Karlovac during Croatian War of Independence, in 1995.

Sport

The local chapter of the HPS is HPD "Martinšćak", which had 99 members in 1936 under the Zlatko Satler presidency. Membership fell to 91 in 1937. Membership rose to 97 in 1938.

Karlovac 10K, road run

NK Mostanje, association football club

Twin towns – sister cities

Karlovac is twinned with:

Alessandria, Italy

Erzsébetváros (Budapest), Hungary

Kansas City, United States

Kragujevac, Serbia

Vukovar, Croatia