Ludbreg is considered to be one of the oldest settlements in Croatia.
The small town in the Podravina region of Croatia has developed on the road crossing, with roads going east to west and north to south, and all of the trade needed to cross the Bednja River. The Illyrians and the Celts passed by; it saw the Tataric and Turkish armies, the army of the viceroy Jelačić and others.
The prehistoric mages predicted the future here, the Slavic priests offered sacrifice, and Roman rich folk enjoyed the beautiful nature. And it was the importance of those roads, and the foundation for its creation was made before the New Era, that brought the Romans to this area, and between ages 6 and 9 AD, they built the monumental IOVIA here.
In time a settlement developed around it, with the inhabitants working for the Roman army. Since Iovia has failed in the 4th century AD in the Great Migration Period, up until the 7th century AD, there aren’t many archaeological findings. More information about the development of the town can be found in the Slavic forts, which were surrounded by water-filled moats, and fortified by the soil dug up from those moats, fortified by sharp stakes.
There were four forts in the period, and one of them, located on the left bank of the Bednja river, was the safest, covered by the forest, far from all roads. That is the exact location where the Old Town (as it’s known today) was originally built, with some of the foundations dated to the 11th century.
In the ruined Iovia, there was a lot of stone around to be used, so the rough walls of the medieval Wasserburgs grew, and not far from it, a new settlement appears. The new inhabitants remove one stone at the time, and thus the old Iovia disappears. Where it used to stand, Ludbreg gets built – a settlement with organized civic and religious administration. During those times the Christianity starts to spread in the area again, and it seems that the first Christian place of worship was built precisely where today the Catholic Most Holy Trinity Church still stands.