Verazdin is located about an hour from Zagreb, and it had that distinction as the center of power in Croatia for a while. The city was picked to be the nation's capital when the King moved there around 1756. That lasted for about 20 years.
From there, as these European stories often do, a fire got in the way. In 1776, a savage blaze ripped through the town - helped by a person who had a big supply of gunpowder on his property. Some rebuilding was done to Verazdin relatively quickly, but its capital status left and never came back.
At least the charm remains. It's Old Town is quite well preserved after all these years, and Verazdin has applied for UNESCO protected status for the area. (It is a UNESCO City of Music, which sounds like half a loaf.) It's a fine place for a leisurely walk back in time. The population of the overall area has been estimated at around 45,000.
A centerpiece of the historic area is the Town Hall, shown here. This has been in use as a government building since 1523, although it went through a major remodeling after the big fire. It was reopened in 1793, and the clock tower was part of the new look. A changing of the guard takes place in front of the building on Saturdays in the summer.
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