Veliki Tabor — Veronika of Desinić, walled into the castle

OVERVIEW

Veliki Tabor is a castle and museum in northwest Croatia, in Zagorje near Desinić, its oldest part built in the mid-15th century and most of it by the Hungarian Ráttkay family, who held it until 1793; in the legend it was a possession of the Counts of Celje. The legend of Veronika Desinićka is a centuries-old story of a passionate but forbidden love between young Count Frederick of Celje, son of the powerful Count Hermann II, and Veronika of Veliki Tabor, usually said now to have been a commoner (some older sources make her minor nobility).

HISTORY

In every version Frederick neglects his lawful wife Elizabeth Frankopan. He falls in love with Veronika, who lives near Veliki Tabor; soon after, accused of murdering Elizabeth, he flees with Veronika to Friedrichstein near Kočevje in southern Slovenia and marries her in secret. Count Hermann sends soldiers after them, throws Frederick into a dungeon, and has Veronika drowned and walled into the walls of Veliki Tabor. A second legend makes her a sorceress who saved the castle from the Turks by scattering chopped straw from a window that turned into a swarm of hornets.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

LEGEND. The Croatian article records the legend and its use in the castle's cultural and tourist presentation — Hinko Davila's novel Zagorska ruža (1899), the Lado ensemble's ballet, the film Kalvarija, and Slovenia's 2024 Eurovision song 'Veronika'. It records no sightings and no date for the legend's first telling.

VISITING

A state museum and tourist site; the legend is part of its presentation.