Top Historic Sights in Zagreb, Croatia
Explore the historic highlights of Zagreb
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 ...
Founded: 1249-1254 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 1620-1632 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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.
Founded: 1866 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 1902 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 1905 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 1846 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 1876 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
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 ...
Founded: 1886 |
Location:
Zagreb, Croatia
Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Photo from Flickr, copyright Tom Hilton
Historic Site of the week
Monet's Garden
Claude Monet lived for forty-three years, from 1883 to 1926, in Giverny. With a passion for gardening as well as for colours, he conceived both his flower garden and water garden as true works of art. Walking through his house and gardens, visitors can still feel the atmosphere which reigned at the home of the Master of Impressionnism and marvel at the floral compositions and nymphéas, his greatest sources of inspiration.
In 1890 Monet had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings were of his garden in Giverny, famous for its rectangular Clos normand, with archways of climbing plants entwined around colored shrubs, and the water garden, formed by a tributary to the Epte, with the Japanese bridge, the pond with the water lilies, the wisterias and the azaleas.
Today the Monet's Garden is open to the public.