VUKOVOJ AS A HOLY SPACE

Najnovija proučavanja pokazala su da je vrh s crkvicom sv. Vuka/Wolfganga bio jedna od ključnih točaka starohrvatskoga, još poganskoga prostora oko Ivanca. Crkvica, izgrađena na tome mjestu, postala je u srednjem vijeku mjestom hodočašćenja. Zaključuje se da je godine 1672. Marija Magdalena grofi ca Drašković (†1719.) dala postaviti niz pilova od dvorca Klenovnik do crkvice sv. Vuka kao 175 postaja puta svete krunice, vjerojatno po uzoru na Mariazell. Učinila je to godinu dana nakon što je njezin otac grof Franjo Nádasdy smaknut kao sudionik urote zrinsko-frankopanske, pa se taj niz može smatrati prvim javnim, ali zakodiranim spomenikom žrtvama urote. Hodočasnički put svete krunice stradao je u jozefi nsko doba, a potkraj 20. st. oživljava kao korizmeni križni put.In the north-western region of Croatia, from the baroque castle of Klenovnik to an old chapel of St. Wolfgang, leads a 4 kilometers long country road, along which there is an array of pillars containing reliefs and sacral statues, apparently an old pilgrim’s path. According to the local legend, the impetus for the creation of the pillars of Klenovnik was a funeral of a countess from Drašković family. On the spots where the pall bearers stopped to rest, her husband erected the sculptured pillars. According to another story, a German queen decided to visit the chapel of St. Wolfgang on foot, because of her diffi cult pregnancy. While walking, she went into labor, and successfully delivered a baby upon return. On the spots where she went into labor, she had the pillars erected. The continuity of the sacred place can be followed, on the example of the church of St. Wolfgang, into pre-Christian layers. The church presents one of the key points of the reconstructed old-Croatian pagan sacralized landscape in the area surrounding the town of Ivanec, fi rmly intertwined with the elements of the mythical battle between the Thunderer (Perun) and the Snake from the Underworld (Veles), which is accompanied by the adventures of the God of Vegetation (Juraj/Jarylo). Parish memorial, written much later on the basis of the local legends and some written sources, states that on the year of 1672, the count Ivan Drašković erected fi fteen stone stages 104 M. Belaj – M. Mirković, Vukovoj kao sveti proctor of the Mystery of the Rosary from the castle of Klenovnik to the chapel of St. Vuk (Wolfgang). These pillars are signposts for the way to the parish fair site. The person mentioned was Ivan Drašković IV (1630–1692), the count and the fi eld marshal, and his wife Maria Magdalena (†1719), the daughter of Hungarian count Franjo Nádasdy. The families of Nádasdy and Drašković were closely connected. They both signifi cantly helped the reconstruction of the Austrian fair site Mariazell. F. Nádasdy was, however, together with N. Zrinski and F.K. Frankopan, executed as the conspirator against the Habsburgs in the year of 1671. After we have determined the temporal, social and political context of the erection of the pillars, it is easier to reconstruct their original meaning and appearance. In the year of 1671, the Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy ended tragically, when the count of F. Nádasdy was also killed. He was the father of M.M. Drašković who used to run Klenovnik when her husband was occupied in state affairs or was fi ghting at the battle-fi elds. Only a year after her father died, she organized the erection of the pillars containing the fi fteen stages of the Mystery of the Holy Rosary, between the castle and the old pilgrimage chapel of St. Wolfgang. On the approximately 4 kilometers, there were fi fteen corresponding sculptures where the Our Father was prayed, and on the next 120–300 meters (and this was also the distance between the pillars), 10 Hail Marys. Such monumental clusters were rather rare (they were more commonly found after the end of the 19th century). Two older ones are known: one was from Poland, from the 1730-ies, and the other one was found in Austria near Mariazell (1644), which probably served to the Drašković family as the model for the Klenovnik invention. This interpretation discovers, in this artistic intervention into the landscape, not only a peculiar artistic, but also a very important national cultural-historical trace, whose signify cance has been forgotten. It represented a kind of political demonstration throughartistic and religious means, and was also the fi rst public monument to the victims of Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy. It deserves to be remembered, as Austrians remembered it im Mariazell at the beginning of the 20th century