Shrine in Marija Bistrica became the national shrine in 1715 when the Croatian parliament built a big votive altar at the church in Marija Bistrica. As Marian devotions grew and many prayers got answered by seeking intercession of Saint Mary of Bistrica, the shrine’s church became tight and too small so Bistrica’s parish priest Juraj Žerjavić had the church and the parish house with arcades extended and reconstructed following the designs of architect Friedrich von Schmidt and his student Hermann Bollé. The new church was built in Neo-Renaissance style.

Reservations are required for guided tours of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, but you can stop by the visitors center any day to explore its educational exhibits, including some chronicling research projects conducted at the Arizona observatory. The FLWO is run under the auspices of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Medvednica – mountain in northwest Croatia, is the treasury of biodiversity, and it was declared to the Nature Park in 1981. Flora of Medvednica is very rich, various and interesting. Flora, the Roman goddess of spring and flowers, counts so far 1205 species and subspecies on Medvednica, which makes around 23% of overall vascular flora.