Josip Kazimir Drašković

Who is Josip Kazimir Drašković?

Josip Kazimir Drašković, a brilliant Croatian general who played a particularly important role in the Seven Years' War. Count, of the noble House of Drašković. He is also noted for his love and marriage to a noblewoman of lower descent which hurt his brilliant military career and made it impossible for him to advance socially, politically or militarily.

The couple had a chapel built on Trakošćan Castle grounds in 1754 which still stands that is consecrated to the Holy Cross. Trakoscan Castle is the ancestral home of the Draskovich Family. It was built in the Baroque Classicism style. This small building is all the more charming because it includes the entire usual church inventory: Choir with organs, pulpit, pew with an elevated rostrum, and altar with a large crucifix above it. The chapel's exterior is a simple one: Only the front with the bell-tower has bosses as ornamentation. The interior has been divided into an equally long square vaulted nave and a sanctuary ending in a shallow apse.

The Holy Mass was once celebrated four times a year, while today, apart from regular Sunday mass, the chapel also hosts traditional Castle Weddings.