Ogulin

Ogulin (pronounced [ôɡulin]) is a town in north-western Croatia, in Karlovac County. It has a population of 8,216 (2011), and a total municipal population of 13,915 (2011). Ogulin is known for its historic stone castle Kula, and the nearby mountain of Klek.

Toponomy

There are several proposed etymologies for the name of Ogulin. Firstly that the surrounding woods needed to be cleared for a better defence of the town, so Ogulin received its name because of the resulting bare area ("ogolio" in Croatian) around it. There were a lot of lime-trees along the road from Ogulin towards Oštarije, and the people used to peel the bark, in order to get bass. It is suggested that Ogulin got its name from the verb to peel ("guliti" in Croatian). Neither proposal is historically confirmed.

History

Ogulin's history dates back to the fifteenth century, when it struggled against the Ottoman Turks. The exact timing of the building of the Ogulin tower has not been established. However, a document issued by Bernardin Frankopan in his town of Modruš at around 1500 AD marked off the boundaries of new castle between Modruš and Vitunj, and this is, at the same time, the first historical mention of Ogulin. Ogulin is known for the legend of Đula who threw herself into the abyss of the River Dobra because of an unhappy love affair. In the sixteenth century, it became a military stronghold against the Ottomans.