Top Historic Sights in Zagreb, Croatia
Explore the historic highlights of Zagreb
Zagreb Greek Catholic Co-cathedral
Greek Catholic Co-cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius is located in the Street of St. Cyril and Methodius on the Upper Town in Zagreb. Greek Catholic church and seminary (built in 1681) existed on the Upper Town before the 17th century. This Church was intended for the Greek Catholic believers, mostly people from Žumberak Mountains, Uskoks and clerics that lived in and around Zagreb. It is not possible to determine ...St. Catherine's Church
Before the St. Catherine"s was built, a 14th-century Dominican church occupied the area. When the Jesuits arrived in Zagreb in the early 17th century, they thought the original church too rundown and inadequate, and worked to build a new church. Construction began in 1620 and was completed in 1632. A monastery was built adjacent to the church, but now the spot is home to the Klovićevi dvori art gallery. St. Catheri ...Lotrscak Tower
The Lotrščak Tower is located in an old part of town called Gradec of Zagreb. The tower, which dates to the 13th century, was built to guard the southern gate of the Gradec town wall. The name is derived from Latin campana latrunculorum, meaning 'thieves" bell', referring to a bell hung in the tower in 1646 to signal the closing of the town gates. The Grič cannon is one of the Zagreb landmarks. In the ...St. Mark's Church
The Romanesque window found in its south facade is the best evidence that the St. Mark"s Church must have been built as early as the 13th century as is also the semicircular ground-plan of St. Mary"s chapel (later altered). In the second half of the 14th century, the church was radically reconstructed. It was then turned into a late Gothic church of the three-nave type. Massive round columns support heavy ribb ...Zagreb Cathedral
The Zagreb Cathedral is the tallest building in Croatia. It is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and to kings Saint Stephen and Saint Ladislaus. The cathedral is typically Gothic, as is its sacristy, which is of great architectural value. Its prominent spires are considered to be landmarks as they are visible from most parts of the city. In 1093 when King Ladislaus (1040-1095) moved the bishop"s chair from Sisa ...Zagreb Orthodox Cathedral
Zagreb Orthodox Cathedral was built in 1865–66 according to designs of architect Franjo Klein. It is ecclessiastically part of the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana and its cathedral.Zagreb Archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb has over 450,000 varied artifacts and monuments, gathered from various sources but mostly from Croatia and in particular from the surroundings of Zagreb. The archaeological collection of the State Institute had been kept in the Academy mansion at Zrinski Square from the 1880s and remained there until 1945, when the museum moved to its current location at the 19th-century Vranyczany-Haf ...Zagreb Modern Gallery
Modern Gallery holds the most important and comprehensive collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings by 19th and 20th century Croatian artists. The collection numbers around 10,000 works of art, housed since 1934 in the historic Vranyczany Palace in the centre of Zagreb, overlooking the Zrinjevac Park. The Palace underwent a complete renovation between 1993 and 2005, when the current exhibition was opened to the pu ...Mirogoj Cemetery
The Mirogoj Cemetery is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in Zagreb. The cemetery inters members of all religious groups: Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Latter Day Saints; irreligious graves can all be found. In the arcades are the last resting places of many famous Croatians. The Mirogoj Cemetery was built on a plot of land owned by the linguist Ljudevit Gaj, purchased by the city in ...Medvedgrad
Medvedgrad is a medieval fortified town located on the south slopes of Medvednica mountain, approximately halfway from the Croatian capital Zagreb to the mountain top Sljeme. For defensive purposes it was built on a hill, Mali Plazur, that is a spur of the main ridge of the mountain that overlooks the city. On a clear day the castle can be seen from far away, especially the high main tower. Below the main tower ...Basilica of the Heart of Jesus
The Basilica of the Heart of Jesus was designed by the Croatian architect Janko Holjac in the neo-Baroque style. It is the second largest church in Zagreb. The construction of the church is tied to the arrival of Jesuits in Zagreb in 1855. For this purpose, the archbishop Juraj Haulik gave a sum of 60,000 forints in 1860. However, political and economic conditions were not favorable for Haulik"s idea, and it was rev ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Moszna Castle
The Moszna Castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.
The central part of the castle is an old baroque palace which was partially destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1896 and was reconstructed in the same year in its original form by Franz Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. The reconstruction works involved an extension of the residence. The eastern Neogothic-styled wing of the building was built by 1900, along with an adjacent orangery. In 1912-1914, the western wing was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The architectural form of the castle contains a wide variety of styles, thus it can be generally defined as eclectic.
The height of the building, as well as its numerous turrets and spires, give the impression of verticalism. The whole castle has exactly ninety-nine turrets. Inside, it contains 365 rooms. The castle was twice visited by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. His participation in hunting during his stay at the castle was documented in a hand-written chronicle in 1911 as well as in the following year. The castle in Moszna was the residence of a Silesian family Tiele-Winckler who were industrial magnates, from 1866 until the spring of 1945 when they were forced to move to Germany and the castle was occupied by the Red Army. The period of the Soviet control caused significant damage to the castle's internal fittings in comparison to the minor damage caused by WWII.
After World War II the castle did not have a permanent owner and was the home of various institutions until 1972 when it became a convalescent home. Later it became a Public Health Care Centre for Therapies of Neuroses. Nowadays it can be visited by tourists since the health institution has moved to another building in the neighbourhood. The castle also has a chapel which is used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the castle housed a gallery in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.
Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.