Razvoj i izgradnja Bjelovara u kartografskim izvorima: od vojne utvrde do slobodnoga i kraljevskog grada
The development and building of Bjelovar in cartographic sources: from a military fort to a free royal city

Summary/Abstract: Thanks to its distinguished place in Croatian history, the town of Bjelovar has been the subject of many cartographic outlines during the 250 years of its existence, which faithfully witnesses its historical continuity and strong cultural identity. Bjelovar was mentioned in cartographic sources for the first time in 1639, 117 years before its founding. Since then, based on many cartographic sources, we can follow its development from a military fort to a free royal city or, in other words, until nowadays, when Bjelovar is an administrative, economy and cultural centre of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County. Because of its exceptional historical role as the headquarters of Varaždin military border, being the County seat, we can follow Bjelovar in detail from the first years of its existence until today. The above mentioned sources enable us to see the outlook and structure of the town, its construction and expansion, the rising of its economy, infrastructural problem solving, and its connection with the surroundings and every day life of its citizens. Because of all that is mentioned above, the cartographic outlines of Bjelovar are an unavoidable historical source, which testifies on its development and rich cultural heritage, which needs to be preserved for future generations as an important piece of common heritage. From these you can clearly see what is the cultural and historical identity of this city, which should be a starting point for conservation protection and future development plans. A scientific analysis of the mentioned cartographic resources confirms that Bjelovar has already been a part of European history and cultural heritage for a long time. This paper is the author’s attempt to collect all the cartographic resources for the history of Bjelovar and, by their scientific analyses, contribute to new findings on the historical development of Bjelovar and historical-geographic conditions of its development.

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