Early this morning, I had some work to do in the town about fifty kilometers north of where I live. The name of that town is Zminj.
It's a nice litlle town with some cool historical stuff in its center. In the opening photograph, you can see the Parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel situated on the main square. Unlike most of the places in Croatia, which have changed their names after the breakdown and dismantling of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the main square in Zminj still holds the name of Marshal Tito, the leader of that state that doesn't exist anymore.
The Parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel was built in the period from the 17th to the 18th century, in a place where a smaller, older church once stood. Parts were added to the building during those years. The monumental front facade, decorated with pilasters, oculi, cornices, entablatures, and niches with statues, was built in 1717. The church tower was also built around the year 1717. That's the time when the church got its final shape we can still see today.
Here you can see a window situated high on the building. There is a pigeon in the picture, but it is small and barely visible. You can see that bird better in the following photograph.
I zoomed in as much as my camera allowed so the pigeon would be big enough to stand out in this shot.
This is one of the biggest old houses there on the main square. In the following photograph...
...you can see its barred entrance. There was a barber shop once behind one of those doors. Nowadays, the place looks mysterious and haunted. It feels like at least one ghost is locked inside.
Here you can see some details of another old house situated across the square from the previous one I showed you. Garbage cans are quite colorful nowadays. A bit further...
...in one of the narrow streets pretty close to the square, I photographed this old house of historic significance that is currently being renovated.
Here you can see the back end of the church, the front facade of the building behind it, which is actually atached to the church, and the tower from the 15th century, attached to that building. All that stuff, built on the remains of a castle whose only remaining original element is the tower, forms an interesting, eclectic architectonic collage of sorts.
I don't know how old exactly the building situated between the tower and the church is, but I can tell you that it was renovated in 1999, and now hosts an institute that researches and promotes the local culture and dialect. In the following photograph...
...you can see one of the busts near the entrance. This one is a fairly realistic portrait of a man called Drago Gervaisa, a poet and playwright...
...one of the most prominent poets writing in the local dialect.
These old, quite decorative wells are part of the public cistern built in 1863. The cistern doesn't have its function anymore, but it's preserved becouse it really looks like something more than just a cistern. It's a nice public place to hang out, sit on the wall, eat something with the wall as a table, or something like that.
And that's it. The post ends here. Hope you enjoyed this quick tour. As always on Hive, the photographs are my work.