Čakovec

Čakovec
City
Grad Čakovec City of Čakovec
Top: Franciscan Square, Second: Međimurje County Museum, Saint Nicholas Church, High School for Construction Engineering Sports Arena, Third: A black locust monument in Zrinski Park, Coat of arms of Čakovec, Zrinski Castle, Fourth: A residential complex in Valent Morandini Street area, Saint Anthony of Padua Church, Porcijunkulovo Christian Festival in every August, Bottom: Fountain in Zrinski Park (all items from left to right)
ČK
Highest elevation	146 m
Website	cakovec.hr

Čakovec (Croatian pronunciation:

.

Population

The city administrative area of Čakovec includes the following

The adjacent villages of Belica, Nedelišće, Pribislavec, Strahoninec and Šenkovec are seats of separate municipalities, although they are all located within 5 km (3 mi) of the city's centre.

The total population of the city's metropolitan area, with all of the aforementioned villages is approximately 45,000.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2001 census, the city of Čakovec had a population of 15,790 within its limits, which was a slight decrease from the 1991 census, when it was 15,999. With its surrounding suburbs included it had a population of 30,455 at the 2001 census.

The city's present day population primarily consists of ethnic Croats at 93.8%, with the largest minority being Romani at 3.8% of the municipality. Other ethnic groups are Serbs, Hungarians, Slovenes and Albanians.^[4]

History

According to the geographer Strabo's reports in the 1st century, today's location of the city of Čakovec was the site of Aquama (wet town) in Roman times and at the time a marshland, a military post and a legionnaire camp.

The name Čakovec (

The period of more significant economic and cultural growth of Čakovec is considered to have started on 15 March 1546, when

(Perivoj Zrinskih) only a few steps from the central square.

When count Johann Michael von

In 1738 the town was devastated by an earthquake, in 1741 by a large fire. At the end of the 18th century, the owners of the town became counts from the Festetics family, and the town was turned into a big estate where industry, crafts and trade developed. In 1848 the ban Josip Jelačić captured Čakovec from the Hungarians and annexed it with Croatia. The first railroad track was built here in 1860 to help connect Budapest with the ports of Fiume and Trieste. Another earthquake hit the town in 1880. The town was connected by railroad with Mursko Središće and Lendava in 1889 and in 1893 electricity was introduced.

Čakovec was the seat of a district (

in command.

Recent years

In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s several modern buildings were built and opened to the public. In 1999 a brand new fitness complex including four indoor swimming pools and a jacuzzi was opened as part of the city's center for sports and recreation. In 2003 a renovated sports hall, originally built in the 1970s and belonging to the construction industry high school, was also opened as a part of the center for sports and recreation and hosted several group matches of the 2003 World Women's Handball Championship. Beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s several large shopping centers and car showrooms emerged in the city, mostly in its northwestern part. Čakovec was twice rewarded The Green Flower award for the tidiest continental city in Croatia, in 2008 and 2009. Čakovec is the first city of the former Yugoslavia to have installed completely electronic information spots, located at the Republic Square and the Franciscan Square in the Center and at the Square of Saint Anthony of Padua in the Jug district. Čakovec is known as the city of

, because, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, all of its traffic lights in the inner part of the city were removed and replaced with traffic circles or rotaries, virtually eliminating traffic jams. The only remaining traffic lights in the city are located on the southern bypass. Although Čakovec is a small city by global parameters, its large working force which comes from all over the county, its location and importance in the region caused many traffic jams on the crossroads. Čakovec is home of many famous Croatian punk bands, including Bakterije and Motorno Ulje.

Education

The city of Čakovec currently has three elementary schools and several secondary schools including a

summer workshop for several decades, bringing world-renowned animators to Čakovec.

Economy

The city of Čakovec has a highly developed

(bakery) and Vajda (meat products) are major fresh food producers in the city. Promming is also one of the biggest factories in Čakovec, they produce metal shelves designed specially for supermarkets.

Sights, facilities and events

Most of the historical buildings in Čakovec are located in the town center or in the centrally located

]

The city has a casino, designed by architect Henrik Böhm.^[10]

At the central square there is a library, a theater, a cinema, a large shopping center and a few confectioners' shops and restaurants. Other businesses in the town center are mostly clothing stores, bookshops, electronics stores and finance companies. A hospital and the central bus station are located only a few steps from town centre. The largest hotel in Čakovec is located across the park, about 300–400 meters from the central square, and there is also a smaller one in close proximity of the main square.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  High-rise residential buildings
• 
  Nikola Zrinski monument
• 
  Cemetery entrance
• 
  Čakovec Castle of the Zrinski family - bird's eye view
• 
  Porcijunkulovo manifestation
• 
  Old

  acacia

  tree
• 
  Church of Saint Anthony of Padua
• 
  Mihovljan settlement was first mentioned in 1203
• 
  Čakovec coat of arms in the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Street
• 
  Handball court at Macanov Dom Sportshall
• 
  Čateks, representative of weaving industry

Transportation

The city of Čakovec is easily accessible by road or a railroad track. The road infrastructure is good and includes a new expressway connecting the Hungary border-crossing point in Goričan with Zagreb, Karlovac and the Adriatic Sea coast. There is also a southern bypass which was built in the beginning of the second half of the first decade in the 21st century. The city is connected to local municipalities with an efficient public transportation system. It has two train stations: Čakovec main train station and Čakovec-Buzovec, as well as a central bus station with a taxi rank, located near the central square. In the adjacent village of Pribislavec there's a small sports airport, where an annual aero-meeting takes place, as well as panoramic flights over the city and county in the summer. The airport is located approximately three kilometers east from the downtown.

City districts and neighborhoods

The city districts/neighborhoods (Croatian: gradske četvrti/kvartovi) of Čakovec are:
I. Centar
II. Jug
III. Martane
IV. Buzovec
V. Sajmište
VI. Globetka
VII. Špice

Sports

The sports-related activities in the city of Čakovec are mostly centered in its northwestern part, where the center for sports and recreation is located. The center includes a

schools are organized throughout the year.

Sports clubs

• IHK Pozoji, an inline hockey club
• KK Željezničar Čakovec [1] Archived 2018-04-18 at the Wayback Machine - ninepin bowling club
• KK Međimurje, a basketball club
• Croatian Second League
• ŽRK Zrinski, a women's handball club in the Croatian First League
• Croatian First League of Handball
• TK Franjo Punčec, a tennis club
• Disc Golf club Zrinski [2] Archived 2014-02-08 at the Wayback Machine

International relations

Twin towns

columns

Twin towns — Sister cities

Čakovec is currently

with these cities or municipalities:

Schramberg, Germany Płońsk, Poland Nagykanizsa, Hungary Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria Szigetvár, Hungary Yancheng, China

Notable people

This list contains some of the notable people who were either born in Čakovec, lived in the city for a longer time or were in some significant way related to it.

• Lidija Bajuk (born 1965) a Croatian singer-songwriter and poet.
• Lujo Bezeredi (1898–1979) a Croatian-Hungarian sculptor and painter.
• Stanka Gjurić (born 1956) a Croatian poet, essayist, actress and filmmaker.
• Sunčana Glavak (born 1968) a Croatian politician and MEP
• Barbara Kolar (born 1970) a Croatian actress and TV presenter
• Ladislav Kralj-Međimurec (1891–1976) a Croatian painter and engraver.
• Josip Horvat Međimurec (1904–1945), a Croatian painter.
• Josip Movčan (1924–2016) a Croatian forester with the Plitvice Lakes National Park.
• Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect and claimed clairvoyant.
• Josip Štolcer-Slavenski (1896– 1955) a Croatian composer and Music professor
• Sandor Teszler (1903–2000), industrialist and philanthropist in the US
• folklorist
• Juraj IV Zrinski (1549–1603), soldier, politician and patron
• Juraj V Zrinski (1599–1626), soldier and politician
• Nikola IV Zrinski (c. 1508–1566), soldier and politician.^[11]
• Nikola VII Zrinski (1620–1664), soldier, poet and philosopher.^[12]
• Petar Zrinski (1621–1671), soldier, politician and poet

Sport

• Srećko Bogdan (born 1957), a Croatian former footballer with 507 club caps
• Iranian Pro League
• Robert Jarni (born 1968), footballer with 391 club caps and manager
• Dino Kresinger (born 1982), footballer with over 320 club caps
• Dražen Ladić (born 1963), football goalkeeper with 420 club caps and 59 for Croatia
• Ladislav Legenstein (born 1926) an Austrian tennis player and a Wimbledon doubles semifinalist
• Ivana Lisjak (born 1987), retired tennis player
• Franjo Punčec (1913–1985) a Yugoslav tennis player.
• Filip Ude (born 1986), pommel horse gymnast; silver medallist at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Dario Vizinger (born 1998), footballer with almost 200 club caps

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Čakovec.

• Official website (in Croatian)
• Čakovec Online Archived 2021-03-19 at the Wayback Machine news portal (in Croatian)
• Čakovec Tourist Board Archived 2004-04-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Croatian)

46°23′09″N 16°26′00″E / 46.38583°N 16.43333°E / 46.38583; 16.43333