Gornja Rijeka is a village at the foot of Kalnik, northwest of Križevci, from ancient times to the border of the Varazdin county. In the village below the slopes of Kalnik, there is the parish church of the Assumption, known Gothic building with a bell tower, above the village are the ruins of the royal Mali Kalnik and near it the truly demanding.

Castle Erdödy-Rubido built on the site of the old manor, Vladislav Orehoczy younger, the 1650th and 1663rd years, with four towers, of which only two remain. There she lived the first Croatian opera prima donna Sidonija Countess Erdödy-Rubido, known for his role in the Ljubica opera "Love and Malice" Lisinski.

Villages of Upper and Lower River won in the 19th century, the name of the river stream. The old name for this settlement and the gentleman's estate was small Kalnik (Kys Kemlek), which was first mentioned in written records 1240th year. Kalnik križevački-end, especially the one at the foot of the southern slopes of Kalnik in which the estate Mali Kalnik (Upper River) and the Great Kalnik mark on the region, known for its large number of small and estate of the so-called. jednoselišnim Kalnik Nobles like the peasant nobility in Turopolje about Zelina and Jastrebarsko. Among the small properties in the upper river area, who are often changed masters the marriage relationship and the extinction of the family, it is worth mentioning estate: Bogačevo, Brežani (D. Fodrovec) Canjevo, Dubovec, Gregurovec, Guščerovec, Raven, Sudovec, Špiranec (Miketinec) etc. in memory of those glorious days in Gornja Rijeka in the February event, "Sidonijin day", and weekend eve of the Assumption (15.08.) held a "day of the nobility," organized by the Association Potkalnički nobles. "