Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Called the “Cathedral of Turopolje”, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which adorns the center of Velika Gorica, was first mentioned in the 14th century. At first, a much smaller church stood in its place, as evidenced by the records from the Parish Memorial. Remains of Roman graves were found in this place, which indicate that local Christians buried their dead there and built a small chapel there. During the invasion of the Turks in 1593, it was destroyed like many surrounding churches, but thanks to the Noble Municipality of Turopolje, it did not take long to be rebuilt, but it quickly became too small for all the faithful and was expanded in 1679.

It was damaged in an earthquake in 1880, which is why it was closed for 13 years. Historian Emilijan Laszowski wrote about it in his book: “When in the last century, in 1893, under the leadership of Zagreb architect Herman Bolle, the current Velika Gorica parish church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was thoroughly renovated, a statue of St. Lucia, and below it the coat of arms of the Noble Municipality of Turopoljw, which was the main investor of the works”.

The interior of this church was painted by Marko Antonini with two frescoes. During his ministry, the long-time pastor Josip Frkin installed stained-glass windows on the windows of the nave of the church, which make up the whole from the beginning of the world to salvation on the cross by Jesus Christ, with the exception of the stained-glass window that depicts the National Eucharistic Congress in 1984 and symbolizes the belonging of the entire Croatian people to the Church.

In 1995, the interior of the church was redecorated as it was after the renovation in 1893, followed by the exterior decoration of the church with the restoration of details that had been destroyed by the ravages of time, so this completely renovated Gorica cathedral shone in 1997, when it was consecrated by the then Archbishop of Zagreb. Msgr. Josip Bozanić.

In recent history, the church was hit by an earthquake again at the end of 2020, 140 years after it suffered a similar fate. The church was damaged, albeit to a lesser extent, after which the belfry cap was removed. Although the statics were not disturbed, the service was held regularly, but the main entrance to the church was closed, and less than three years passed before the belfry cap was returned to the top of the church.