You can find Lupoglav at the crossing of the roads where the main route from Trieste to Rijeka branches towards the centre of the peninsula. The modern-day Lupoglav is the centre of a municipality spreading out from the slopes of the Učka and the Ćićarija down to Boljun Valley in the south. The place is teaming with new family detached houses built along the road. However, there is no familiar vertical of a bell tower so often found in other Istrian places marking their centres. How come? In order to understand the current situation, one must raise their eyes towards the steep slopes of the Ćićarija and look for an elevation where the Mahrenfels Castle, the residence of the Lupoglav allodial estate, stood until the mid 17th century. The Castle was situated about 1.5 km east of today's town.
Brigido castle
About 350 meters east of the railway station, on the left hand side, one can find an old building surrounded by a tall stone wall. This is not the old Mahrenfels Castle; it is a country mansion of the noble Brigido Family. The mansion was built soon after they had purchased the Lupoglav allodial estate in 1634 and decided to abandon the old castle on the hill. Count Pompeo I Brigido was an Austrian state secretary. His nephew and heir, Pompeo II Brigido, was the Governor and military commander of Trieste from 1787 to 1804 Lupoglav was owned by the Brigido Family until 1883.
The family ran their estate well and successfully introduced many agricultural novelties, particularly in livestock farming, e.g. breeding of merino sheep, Egyptian sheep and Angora goat. The estate was a model estate of its time and many Istrian farmers sent their heirs to learn practical estate, agriculture and farming management and one day to become independent and competent managers. On the other hand, the Brigidos were also remembered for their brutal behaviour towards their subjects, who were forced to lead uprisings such as, for example, the one which took place in 1847.
The Mahrenfels castle
Following the road from the Brigido Castle for another 100 metres we come to a crossroads where we turn left. After about 150 metres there is a road turning right towards Brest. After another 500 m in the direction of Brest we come to the local cemetery in Mariškići. Along the western entrance to the cemetery a 500-meter long old drive will take us to the remnants of the ancient Mahrenfels Fort. We can notice that in some sections the drive was literally cut into the solid rock. In some places there are indentations at a regular distance caused by rig wheels.
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