NOVIGRAD, FRANKOPANSKI KA¹TEL, (castle) of the
Frankopans; it is not known when it was built, but from the
Vinodol code it comes out that it belonged to the Frankopan
family as early as 1288 and it preserved its original looks
until 1761. After the execution of Franjo Krsto Frankopan and
Petar Zrinski in wiener Neustadt in 1761, their properties were
given or leased to other feudal lords. In 1685 Hungarian Chamber
leased Novi out to baron Franjo Rigoni. In the record from the
period the castle is described and the inventory listed. So, in
the ground-floor there were wine cellars and stores, among them
also the stores of the Paulist monks.
In the 1692 Hungarian Chamber sold all the coastal estates of
Zrinski and Frankopan families to Austrian Chamber for 500,000
florins and thus they became their property. In 1794 Novi
changes its masters again and came under the administration of
so called Vienna Deputation, or more exactly "Banco-Gefôhlen
Administration in Herzogthum Krain und Littorale Austriaticum"
with the seat in Ljubljana. On 3rd August 1761 bank
administration suggested to the deputation in Vienna to have two
thirds of the Novi castle pulled down because of high
maintenance costs and explaining that the remaining one third
would be quite sufficient as castellan's lodgings.
So, today we can see only the remains of the castle, which being
devastated and having lost most of the value of the original
building, close the main square of Novi from the west. On the
newly-laid stone slabs of the square the the lay-out of the
round tower or "rondel", as it was known among local people, was
drawn in.
NATIONAL READING ROOM AND MUSEUM

The ground-floor of the Frankopan castle houses
NATIONAL LIBRARY AND READING ROOM, which was founded at the time of Illyrian
Movement in 1845. The reading room played an important part in
cultural life of the place and thus, out of gratitude, peolpe of
Novi erected a memorial tablet to its founder, canon Josip
Mazuranic. It was put on the house he was born in, in the old
town, and unveiled on 9th december 1988.
The second floor of the castle houses
NATIONAL MUSEUM and
gallery, which was immediately upon its foundation situated in
the building of former bishop's palace. This important
institution was founded on 1st May 1951 by Juraj Potocnjak, a
techer in Novi. Visitors can see very interesting and original
exhibits witnessing the history and culture of the inhabitans of
this region, their life and customs from 1288 until present day.
Particulary worth seeing is the etnographic collection with
genuine folk costumes and instruments, then archeological and
hydroarcheological finds from Novi Vinodolski and Povile, the
collection of works of art and arms, and memorial collection of
writer Mazuranic.
ROMAN FORT LOPSICA
Experts bring out different assumptions. Some of them claims
that Lopar was an old Roman fort, while the others assume that
it was medieval town of the Frankopans. Regretfully, today there
are only remains of walls as mute witnesses of the past.
Although they do not say much, they must remember a lot.
The ruins of the town of lopar were well preserved until the
beginning of the Second World War and the reconstruction of the
town plan from that period as well as some preserved photos
witness that the fort was a pentagonal buildings defended from
the sea by two strong rectangular towers aabd by the two smaller
ones from the north.