Krapina


Krapina is a town in northern Croatia and the administrative centre of Krapina-Zagorje County with a population of 4,482 and a total municipality population of 12,480. Krapina is located in the hilly Zagorje region of Croatia, approximately away from both Zagreb and Varaždin.

Population

The following settlements comprise the Krapina municipality:
Krapina has been known since 1193. It has always been a favorite site for castles and country houses of Croatian and Hungarian rulers.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, Krapina was a district capital in the Varaždin County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.
In 1899, on a hill called Hušnjakovo near modern Krapina, the archaeologist and paleontologist Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger found over eight hundred fossil remains belonging to Neanderthals.
The half-cave in Krapina was soon listed among the world`s science localities as a rich fossil finding site, where the largest and richest collection of the Neanderthal man had ever been found. In the sandy deposits of the cave about nine hundred remains of fossilised human bones were found - the fossil remains belonged to several dozen different individuals, of different sex, from 2 to 40 years of age.

Culture

Krapina is home to the yearly Festival kajkavske popevke sung in the local Kajkavian language.
At the site where the Neanderthals remains were discovered there is now a state-of-the-art Neanderthal museum which also includes an extensive section on evolution, making it one of the most interesting evolutionary museums in Europe. It is surrounded by a park with many statues of Neanderthals and the game they hunted, a bear, a moose and a beaver set in the actual locations. There is also a nearby municipality of Krapinske Toplice with numerous thermal springs and spa tourist infrastructure. Krapina is also the birthplace of the linguist and language reformer Ljudevit Gaj. His home is now a museum where visitors can learn about his life and work.