Saint Helena Chapel

Otvori galeriju

We cannot say for sure who constructed the chapel and when, but it is connected with the oldest monastery in this part of Croatia, that is, we connect it with the mentioning of the Cistercian abbey in 1277, but it is probably even older. It was in the ownership of the Okić count Ivan who received Samobor and the surroundings of Saint Helena in 1274 from the Croatian-Hungarian king Ladislaus IV for the bravery and service in the war against Tatars.

At the end of the 15th century the Cistercians had to flee Croatia to escape from the threatening Turkish force and it is then when their properties came under the ownership of the Zagreb archbishop. One of such estates was Saint Helena’s Chapel which started to deterioration from that period onwards, and after many years of neglect, in 1831 or 1832, a permit was issued for its demolition.

The present chapel was built in 1925 on the foundations of the Cistercian monastery on that area, on the incentive of the Samobor teacher and chronicler Milan Lang. Today it is under patronage of one of the recent Samobor brotherhoods, the Brotherhood of Saint Helena, who organize a huge gathering every year to celebrate the Saint Helena.