Gambling has long been banned in many cities and countries around the world, but not in this small European town. And we are not talking about Monte Carlo at all, but about the Croatian city of Čakovec. The casino was opened in 1904. You will go to the casino in the evening, but in the afternoon it's time to walk around the medieval castle. You are in Europe, after all.

Čakovec Castle was built in the 13th century by Count Dmitry Chaki, and was only a wooden tower until the 16th century. At this time Emperor Ferdinand gave Zrínyi Miklós Čakovec and the local castle. During the reign of the princely Zrínyi family, the castle was completely rebuilt and turned into a stone Palace, fortified with ramparts and moats. It was surrounded by bastions along its entire perimeter. These walls of pentagonal defensive objects are considered to be the only ones of their kind due to the brickwork. Other similar buildings of the XVI-XVII centuries were still made of stone. At the same time, the castle received its present name and became the permanent residence of several generations of the Zrínyi family.

An earthquake in 1738 and a fire in 1741 almost destroyed the fortress. But thanks to the new owners, representatives of the Czech military dynasty, it was completely restored. The old Renaissance castle was rebuilt into a classic European Baroque Palace. The surrounding ditches were drained and filled in with earth. Of all the fortifications, only a few fragments of the fortress wall have been preserved. In their place, a beautiful park was laid out.

Later, the castle was used as a prison. The City Museum was opened there only in 1954. It consists of five departments and has more than fifty collections and about twenty thousand exhibits. Many stone monuments, including the tomb of Zrínyi Miklós in the Renaissance style, located in the courtyard of the castle. The permanent exhibition of the Museum contains items of the Zrínyi family. The special pride of this collection is the saber and helmet of Miklós himself. In other departments of the Museum, there are exhibits from the stone and iron ages, as well as from the Roman Empire.