Ludbreg

Ludbreg is a town in Podravina (northwestern Croatia) on the left bank of the river Bednja, 25 km southeast of Varaždin at the foot of the slopes of the Kalnik mountains.

Ludbreg is one of the oldest settlements in Croatia. This small town in Podravina developed at the intersection of roads leading from east to west and from north to south, and all trade had to cross the crossing on the river Bednja. From Ludbreg there are 6 road routes to larger cities. The town of Ludbreg consists of 13 settlements.

Ludbreg is known as an important spiritual destination for believers from all over Europe and is a unique Croatian shrine founded in honor of the Precious Blood of Christ which is kept in an ampoule in a beautiful baroque display in the parish church of St. Trinity. Ludbreg is also a city of legends. From the one about the beautiful girl Ludberga after whom the town was named, to the most famous of them who says that Ludbreg is the center of the world - Centrum Mundi. According to her, from this place, they say, in ancient times the circles of the earth were described and on their edges all the larger European metropolises were located. This legend was confirmed by Dr. Erasmus Weddigen, a Swiss man, a frequent guest of the Restoration Center and a lover of Ludbreg, by accidentally playing with a compass and a map. Taking Ludbreg as a starting point, he described the circles on the map and noticed that there were really larger cities on that imaginary line, not only in Croatia, but also beyond. The closest proof of this legend are the cities closest to us: Varaždin, Koprivnica, Čakovec and Varaždinske Toplice, which are about 20 km away from Ludbreg. On the opposite side of the globe is the Ludbreg antipodes, the South Pacific island of Antipodes - the remnant of an ancient antipodravina.

If you visit Ludbreg, you will be given the opportunity to stop for a moment in the very center of the world, a place that the people of Ludbreg have marked on the central town square and to which they add a tile of a new city every year. Then, every April 1, sparkling Ludbreg wine flows from the city fountain to the general celebration.