One Minute Ludbreg: Inside the Miracle Chapel at Batthyany Palace

September 11, 2020 – Continuing our tour of Croatia’s miracle town in the TCN One Minute Ludbreg series, a visit to the Batthyany Palace chapel where the Eucharistic Miracle of Ludbreg took place in 1411.

One of the most fascinating things about travelling around Croatia is discovering what lies behind the doors of buildings. I first started to notice this in Diocletian’s Palace many years ago. So many seemingly similar and innocuous-looking doors, which were actually guarding secrets to historical treasures, stunning buildings and unique attractions. Never has the phrase ‘never judge a book by its cover’ been so true.

Over the years, I have lost count of the number of times I have passed through a door in Croatia and literally had my breath taking away by what I saw on the other side.

It happened to me also in the town of Ludbreg on my first tour with the local tourist board back in 2016. The walk around the three buildings which comprise the town’s most impressive attraction – Batthyany Palace – was very pleasant, and the buildings themselves were magnificent, but I had no concept of the magic that awaited me inside when we entered the Church of the Holy Cross, which was the former private chapel of Count Batthyany.

The frescoes which adorned the walls and ceiling were stunning, but that was only the start of the story. For here, it was explained to me, was the place where something rather special happened way back in 1411 – the Eucharistic Miracle of Ludbreg, which remains today as the only miracle in all Croatia that has been officially certified by the Vatican after a Papal Bull issued by Pope Leo X in 1513 (a copy of which you can see in the small museum at the back of the church). Learn more about this most picturesque chapel in Batthyany Palace in our latest episode of One Minute Ludbreg below, and to learn more of the story of the miracle, check out the TCN article here.