Vrbovsko () is a town in western Croatia, situated at the far east of the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County; on its 280 square kilometers area, Vrbovsko features 60 settlements and a total of 3876 inhabitants. The town of Vrbovsko itself has a population of 1257. The Kamačnik canyon is its main source of tourism.
Name
It was recorded as Verbouzko on the 1673 map of .
Geography
In the north, river Kupa separates Vrbovsko from adjoining Slovenia, while the eastern border follows the line of Zdihovo, Liplje and Bosiljevo settlements and cuts through the river Dobra valley near Ljubošina. The western border starts at the Kupa gorge at Radočaj, goes around Razdrto and passes over the railway tracks between Koritnik Veliki and Palež, continues to Lužac and ends in Sušica-Jablan area. The southern border is the highest in its relief characteristics – it runs along mountain peaks at an altitude of 1000 meters or higher. Debela Kosa (1169 m), Bukovica (1253 m), Bijela kosa (1289 m), Mirkovica (1283 m), and Smolnik (1219 m) peaks are especially distinguishable by their beauty, forests and height. Towards the east, the border continues over Kozarice and Lombarda passes, and ends in the river Dobra valley, thus rounding off Vrbovsko area.
The geographical position of Vrbovsko that places it along the transit lines halfway between Zagreb and Rijeka is of extreme importance. Good rail and highway connections provide for quick access to Vrbovsko.
The Kamačnik canyon is nearby.
In 1785, it was declared a royal free city, and was granted a city magistrate and court. there was a proposal in the Hungarian press to build a wagonway through the Jozefina then up to Vrbovsko and from there along the Lujzijana, but because of the steep grade from Brod na Kupi to Rijeka, they changed the plan for the wagonway to be drawn to Senj instead of Rijeka, only for the protest of both Rijeka and Karlovac to kill the plan altogether.
On 21 February 1852 by a decree of the Ban of Croatia and Slavonia, Josip Jelačić, a Chamber of Commerce and Industry () was to be founded in Rijeka with jurisdiction over Vrbovsko. It was founded, and began to function on the 11th of March that year.
In 1860–1879, Matija Mažuranić wrote a 62 folio manuscript today titled Writings on the Building of Roads in Gorski Kotar and Lika (), today with signature HR-ZaNSK R 6424.
In 1887, Sv. Ivana Nepomuka was demolished because of its state, the new church being finished in 1895, only to be demolished in 1901 and rebuilt again in 1904 as the present building, in Neo-Gothic style. Like most volunteer fire departments in the region, it has taken on a larger societal role than its city counterparts, to the point of having its own brass band. Today the DVD Vrbovsko is one of the components of the VZ grada Vrbovsko.
In 1900, the cemetery chapel Gospe Karmelske, dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was built in 1900.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
A 22 December 1939 decision as part of agrarian reforms by Ban Šubašić to confiscate the forest property in Vrbovsko and surroundings of the Thurn and Taxis family, Kálmán Ghyczy and Nikola Petrović resulted in a legal dispute known as the Thurn and Taxis Affair, in part because of the relative status of the family and in part because of the proximity to the Italian border.
WWII
1941
During WWII, 273 people were killed from the kotar of Vrbovsko, of which 101 by Croats, 56 by Italians, 48 by Serbs, 12 by Germans and 12 by Bulgarians.
In May, the Ustaše began arresting prominent Serbian men in Vrbovsko, focusing on known or suspected JRZ and Chetnik members or sympathisers.
SFR Yugoslavia
At the end of the war, Vrbovsko's municipal notary () and legal representative of , Matija Paviša, was in Ogulin with Ante Pocrnić. Paviša warned Pocrnić not to return to Vrbovsko, which he did anyway, being mobilised by the Partisans and sent off to the Istrian front, where he died. Fearing retribution, Paviša retreated with the Ustaša column towards Austria, avoiding the Bleiburg repatriations, however, because he became ill with the flu on the way and returned to Vrbovsko. There, he was arrested and put on trial before judge Floršić, a Jewish judge of the new administration, who merely sentenced him to temporary house arrest until the political situation calmed down. After rehabilitation, Paviša served as a misdemeanor judge and then as the municipality secretary until retirement.
Recent
In the 2010s, the Presvete Euharistije chapel was built in the basement of the parish priest's house.
On 30 August 2012, a leak in Vrbovsko forced a water shutoff in the town.
Vrbovsko was hit by the 2014 Dinaric ice storm. From 31 January to 2 February 2014, while S and SW geostrophic wind dominated, freezing rain fell on Gorski Kotar, glazing the entire region. It wrecked roofs, power lines and forests, causing power loss for about 14,000 households in Gorski Kotar, or about 80% of its population. Because of power lines falling on the A6, the highway was closed in of Rijeka between Bosiljevo and Kikovica, and between Kikovica and Delnice in the direction of Zagreb. It took about 10 days to restore essential infrastructure to the region, and within months electricity was back in most of its former range, but at a cost of about 84.4 million HRK to HEP, whose Elektroprimorje Rijeka branch was responsible for restoring electricity in most of the affected area. At the time it was the largest peacetime damage since the Secession from Yugoslavia, even without counting the forestry losses. Thanks to relatively mild ice accumulation (SPIA 4), the Šumarija Vrbovsko fared well relative to western forestry branches, losing mainly diseased and very poorly anchored trees. Clearing blocked forestry roads and forest paths would take years, and thanks to the declining population some were never cleared. A dedicated winter service base of the Komunalac Vrbovsko was set up in Vrbovsko to assist with repairs; alongside the local volunteer firefighters and Luko d.o.o. they had been doing most of the initial work in clearing the roads. Some remained without power for 5 days.
On 12 December 2017, a severe wind hit Vrbovsko, leaving its elementary school without a roof and blocking traffic in the area.
On 8 June 2018, the Lovnik water storage unit was found to have a coliform bacteria concentration of 391/100ml, while the Hambarište water storage unit had a concentration of 570/100ml, and both Escherichia coli and Enterococcus bacteria were present.
In 2021, the old Mance house was reconstructed, an infant day care centre was added to the kindergarten "Bambi" in Vrbovsko and a recycling yard was built.
In late 2021, a new water tank Senjsko II was installed
Demographics
thumb|Vrbovsko municipality map
As of 2021, there were only 487 inhabitants under the age of 20 in the township, and 171 in the urbanity.
In 1870, Vrbovsko općina had 324 houses and 2427 people.
By early 1919, 8234 people had emigrated from Delnice Kotar to the United States and 1121 to other countries.
In 1835, the part of Vrbovsko in the Military Frontier belonged to Ogulin. In that part, there were 36 houses, with a population of 338.
In 1870, Vrbovsko proper had 188 houses and 1346 people. In 1811, at the time under Karlovac district, the Vrbovski kanton comprised the kotari of Vrbovsko with a population of 1971 in 5 villages, Severin and Bosiljevo.
In 1890, the općina of Vrbovsko, with an area of , belonged to the kotar of Vrbovsko, with an area of and its own court and electoral district, in the županija of Modruš-Rieka (Ogulin court and financial board). In Vrbovsko općina, there were 373 houses
In 1910, the općina had 4 resident soldiers. Militarily, Vrbovsko fell under the and 26th Landsturm Infantry Brigade, both at Karlovac.
In 1890, Vrbovsko itself had 63 houses and 442 people. The hamlets surrounding it were: Amerika or Tominkina Draga (8 houses, 39 people), Bakarska Draga (11 houses, 68 people), Blažev Brieg (2 houses, 11 people), Dobra (15 houses, 127 people), Jelovac (4 houses, 21 people), Kalajčin Potok (7 houses, 31 people), Klajner Brdo (13 houses, 100 people), Lisičev Brieg (2 houses, 19 people), Mrzle Drage (3 houses, 25 people), Podhrzač (2 houses, 17 people), Podkraj (3 houses, 12 people), Rožman Brdo (12 houses, 64 people), Senjsko (83 houses, 566 people), Skakavac (5 houses, 39 people). These townspeople and villagers were under Komorske Moravice Orthodox and Vrbovsko Catholic parishes, and Vrbovsko school, tax and administrative districts. Vrbovsko had 3 schools and Senjsko had 1. Vrbovsko had a post office, a telegraph, a train station, a gendarmerie and a financial guard.
Religion
Ecclesiastically, the Vrbovsko parish is under the Delnice diaconate, in turn under the Rijeka Archdiocese. In 1974, its parish had 2700 souls, plus 300 outside the country.
List of parish priests of Vrbovsko:
- Gabrijel Vukšić (1796)
- ...
- Petar Butković (b. Bilaj 1910-08-10, primiz Gospić 1935-06-23)
- ...
- Josip Jonaš (b. Buenos Aires 1913-11-04, primiz Senj 1939-06-29)
- ...
- Ivan Androić (January 2012 – September 2019), transferred to Ičići
Dialect
Dialect levelling is active, and preservation efforts are sporadic. Beginning in 2022, a dialectal competition and literature festival for children was introduced, Goranski Cukrac, to be held annually throughout Gorski Kotar for the purpose of motivation and practice. It was held again in 2023, and in 2024. Then in 2025, the Vrbovsko elementary school won the 4th installment.
Official usage of Serbian minority language
The Town of Vrbovsko has officially introduced the Serbian language with Serbian Cyrillic alphabet as the equal co-official language. The town Statute guarantees the Serb national minority in Vrbovsko the right to proportional representation in the city's legislative, executive, and administrative bodies. While this did impact funding, the existence of guarantees at the municipal level prevented any change. But the Turistička zajednica Gorskog kotara (TZGK) was founded to cover that region later in 2020. The TZGK is headquartered in Delnice, but its president alternates annually between the mayors and općinski načelnici of its constituent towns and minicipalities, including the mayor of Vrbovsko.
In February 2014, the TZGV website was translated into German and in 2015 the "Moj Gost" system was introduced to allow for online registration of guests to take over the previous system of physically handing in documents to the police in Vrbovsko.
The farmers' market in Vrbovsko fell out of use for a time, but was resurrected on 12 May 2020, to be held every second Tuesday of the month.
A large, international pumpkin festival () The 2024 edition involved 136 stands and over 1000 visitors. The award for the heaviest pumpkin has gone to:
- 2005:
- 2006:
- 2007:
- 2008:
- 2009:
- 2010: Gani Ramadani (62 kg)
- 2011:
- 2012:
- 2013:
- 2014:
- 2016:
- 2017:
- 2018: Stipe Jurčević