Fužine, Croatia

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Location of Fužine in Croatia

Fužine is a village and a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia.

Demographics

The total population of Fužine is 1,592, in the following settlements:

• Belo Selo, population 50
• Benkovac Fužinski, population 33
• Fužine, population 685
• Lič, population 504
• Slavica, population 33
• Vrata, population 287

History

Fužine is a town that was built in the 17th century when the House of Zrinski opened an iron mine in this area of Gorski Kotar. Fužine got its name from blacksmiths, because there were many blacksmiths in Fužine fixing carriages. Significant events include the 1727 construction of the Karolina road connecting Bakar with Karlovac, and the coming of the Zagreb-Rijeka railroad in 1873.

Tourism

Fužine has a long tourism tradition. A lot of people started to come Fužine to get away from the city life. The town has the advantage of being close to the sea (45 min of drive), but still offer a cool night due to mountain location. In Fužine you have a lot of bike routes and hiking trails. The cave Vrelo is opened for tourist throughout whole year. The cave is also accessible for people with wheelchair, and other disabilities. Fužine also has a lot of festivities during the year:

• Summer in Fužine - concerts, sport competitions
• Big New Year's Eve party in the noon
• Lake regatta
• World championship in underwater orientation
• Fishing contest

Industry

Fužine has a number of saw mills. It also contains a large plant (Drvenjača d.d.) for producing cellulose pulp for paper manufacturing.

Geography

Lake Bajer is spanned by the Bajer Bridge that carries the A6 motorway traffic.

There are three large man-made lakes (Bajer and Lepenica) and one small lake (Potkoš) in Fužine.

All the lakes are used for generating electricity. There is also a cave in Fužine named Vrelo.

The town area is surrounded by the mountains of Tuhobić, Viševica, and Bitoraj.

Notable people

• Krešo Golik, movie maker
• Franjo Rački, historian
• Viktor Bubanj, general and National Hero of Yugoslavia
• Dario Knežević, football player
• Vojislav Mišković, astronomer