In the Middle Ages, the Pregrada area belonged to the Kostel manor, and the remains of the Kostel fortress can still be seen on the northern slopes of Kunagora. The first written information about Kostel can be found in the Statutes of the Zagreb Kaptol, which mention the parish of St. Emeric in Kostel in 1334. It was built by Count Keglević on his noble estate, as part of a very valuable architectural and urban complex consisting of the Kostelgrad Fortress, Church of St. Emeric, the Chapel of the Suffering Jesus, the parish court, farm buildings with a well and a historic cemetery. 

The church is famous for the Easter shooting “under the Kostel“. Count Keglević's companies from the Kostel fortress, which towers over the church, guarded Christ's tomb, and at dawn on Easter, they celebrated Christ's resurrection with loud shots from the holster. The custom has been nurtured continuously since 1523, and today it has the status of an intangible cultural asset of the Republic of Croatia.