Vinica - The Opeka Castle in Vinica, a historic 17th-century structure, has been fully reconstructed and, as part of an investment worth €18.5 million, has become the Regional Competence Centre for Agriculture. It opened on Monday in the presence of Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković.
The centre includes 40 student rooms, apartments for instructors, laboratories for soil, wine, oil, and honey testing, specialised classrooms, a seed bank, a wine lab, computer labs, offices, a student restaurant, a library, a conference hall, and other facilities.
The total value of the project to reconstruct the castle is €12 million.
It has been financed with EU grants and funds from the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, Varaždin County, and the Arboretum Opeka Secondary School. In addition, the project for establishing the Regional Centre is worth €6.5 million, making the total investment amount to €18.5 million.
Jandroković emphasised that identity, tradition, and roots alone are not enough to succeed in today’s world, stressing the importance of keeping up with trends.
"This Regional Centre is something that connects Vinica with all those who are advanced, not only in Europe but around the world," Jandroković said, adding that everyone passing through the Centre will be "absolutely equal in terms of knowledge and skills to the international competition."
"This provides an excellent tool for our young people to develop and compete with the best in the world," he stressed.
Jandroković also commented on the renovation of the Opeka Arboretum park, calling it a "significant financial investment that will certainly benefit Vinica and Varaždin County." The park, he noted, will undoubtedly become one of the most prestigious tourist and cultural destinations in this part of Croatia.
"It's also important to emphasise that without the EU, we wouldn’t be able to finance such projects, not just here but throughout Croatia. Perhaps the most important message I want to send today is that we are no longer a second-tier country in Europe. What has happened in the past few years has brought us much closer to the more developed, even the most developed EU countries," Jandroković said.
Varaždin County head Anđelko Stričak said that once renovated and revitalised with additional content, the arboretum would make the entire complex a "top tourist destination for Varaždin County".