Pillar and Good house

Above the village Veliki Bastaji there are remains of a once strong town “Stupčanica”. The people of this region call it the “Turkish tower”. The legend on the making of Stupčanica and Good House are quite interesting.

There were two sisters of noble birth that decided that each would build their own strong town. The building started at the same time. When after some time they met again, they praised themselves to each other but only one managed to build a town and said, that she build a “good house”. And this is how Good House was made. The other sister only built a smaller tower that looked like a pillar and so came the name “Stupčanica” (Pillar).

The medieval town of Stupcanica is situated to the south of Veliki Bastaji. The town was owned by the family of Tiboldovic-Svetacki. The town exchanged several owners right to the Turk invasion in 1541 when Turks turned it into their stronghold but in 1688 the Turks abandoned Pillar and since then it has been empty.

The only thing that remains of the fortress is the main tower, now 15 meters tall (once 18 m) that slowly collapses. The tower is quadrangular with 7 meter long sides. The entrance to the main tower was through the first floor that was arched by a half shaped dome under which there were rooms without openings. In the upper premises, there was a wooden ceiling and lead steps made of stone that have collapsed. The tower was build out of braked stone and lime mortar while the corners have an enhancement from trimmed stone. Upper parts of the tower were built by brick (clay). On the south side there are Romanesque arched openings framed by carved stone. The town was encircled by a thick wall under which, across a drawbridge, was the entrance to town. By the main tower, the walls and the foundations of the backup buildings that are decaying and slowly disappearing in a thick forest can still be seen.

Good house

You can come to this medieval fortress through the valley of the little river Toplica. It is 8 kilometres away from Daruvar, and is located at the natural stone height of 300 m altitude.

In the Middle Ages the Good House was one of the most important fortresses in this region. It is mentioned since 1335 and the fortress had a defence tower, a building for housing, a water cistern and the whole town was fortified. Good House had many owners, but the Turks are the ones who destroyed the town at the end, but the remains of this town are still visible.

According to Turkish descriptions, it was a nice town made out of hard material. Even today, the remains of the guard tower, the defence wall and the part of the main tower, which is basically round and rests on a stone, can be seen. You can still see the remains of the tank located in the town’s backyard. The entrance to town was at the north side over the drawbridge, which was above the trench. The town was expanded, towards the south, with a new and lower defence wall, but it is not determined when. Good House was built from raw and braked stones, and as a binder, lime and sand. Because of the low quality building material and poor construction, this, once a beautiful town, is a ruin.