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	ZAGREB'S STORY The rushing crowds, busy faces, noise, bustle, streets too narrow for so many cars, trams and buses, neon lights and brightly lit shop-windows – one can hardly recognize this modern day Zagreb when compared to Zagreb from its earlier days. What has happened? Let us go back 900 years, when Zagreb was for the first time mentioned in a written document. In 1094, the Zagreb Diocese was founded and Felicianus’ Charter was issued and with that Zagreb became part of European culture and civilization. However, there is another story about the origin of Zagreb, one that the inhabitants of Zagreb are much fonder of, to which we shall get back later. Another very important document for Zagreb is the Golden Bull from 1242. At that time, Zagreb was not a single but rather two settlements: a diocese, later to be named Kaptol, situated on one hill and the fortified Croatian town of Gradec on the neighboring hill. Fleeing from the Tatars, the Croatian-Hungarian King Bela IV sought shelter in Gradec, and as a token of appreciation he granted the Golden Bull to its inhabitants, a formal document which promoted Gradec to a free royal town. These privileges enabled the town to develop throughout the centuries and to become even more fortified because, alongside the privileges, the people of Gradec took on certain obligations like building a strong fortified wall around Grič in order to protect the town. The remnants of that period and the walls still stand today.
	The beginning of centuries-long conflicts between Gradec and Kaptol is the beginning of the story of Krvavi Most (Bloody Bridge), a border separating and connecting the two towns and the site of many fights in which blood was spilled. The Bridge was initially called Pisani Most (Red Bridge) after its red color. Half of it was maintained by Gradec, half by Kaptol, although both settlements claimed rights to the whole Bridge. On Christmas Eve of 1667, a battle took place between the "resentful neighbors" so that the governor’s soldiers had to intervene. Eye-witnesses noted that streams of blood had flowed down the bridge and it was on that night that the bridge earned its name Krvavi (Bloody). These conflicts ended only in 1850, when Gradec and Kaptol were integrated into one town. However, before that happened, the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries had left their mark in history. One glance at a map of the 16th century Croatia is enough to realize the scope of the disaster which left the so called "reliquiae reliquiarum" (remnants of the remains of Croatia) behind it, because the 16th century was one of the hardest for Croatia and Zagreb as well. There was a constant threat from the Turks, dynasty fights, civil wars and traditional local clashes, war taxes, levies, plague, floods, earthquakes, and as a consequence of it all, poverty. Because of constant Turkish onslaughts, Croatia had literally become Zagreb, and Zagreb its capital (for the first time Zagreb was mentioned in official documents as the capital). The 17th century was marked by monastic life. Much credit goes to those pious people who founded public schools and colleges. In 1699 Jesuits founded Zagreb University, Academia Zagrebiensis. A century later, at the time of the baroque restoration, the palaces and churches in Zagreb, paintings and sculptures, arts and crafts, and book bindings assumed a warm and opulent baroque appearance.
Throughout the centuries Zagreb was developing towards its role as a capital city, but it was in the 19th century that Zagreb acquired the image of a gallant and elegant town. For a moment, let us put aside the negative aspects of that century and bring to life a town of new vistas, happy people, our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers, a town of parties and dances, theatre plays, night-life and above all – cafés. It was a time of fast modernization, thanks to the Croatian National Revival movement, when streets and squares were built as well as institutional palaces and cultural institutions, parks and public gardens were planted, crafts and trades were developed, and on the foundations of the past, a town of the future was coming to life.
At the same time the old walls of Kaptol and Gradec yielded and the town started spreading from the slopes of Medvednica towards the Sava River. There, in the outskirts of Zagreb, was a spring – the mysterious Manduševac, which, as legend has it, was a meeting place for witches in the 16th and 17th centuries and had magical powers. It was enough to drink just a drop of water from the spring and the person would fall in love with Zagreb forever! It is the place where many things happened for the first time and even the story of Zagreb begins there. The inhabitants of Zagreb are very fond of the legend of an ancient governor who met a girl at Manduševac and addressed her with the words "Manda, dušo, zagrabi" ("Manda, darling, scoop up"). And so she did - hence the name ZAGREB (from the verb ZAGRABITI).
Since then, the warmth of that peaceful town has disappeared, and Zagreb today is a big bustling city open to different people and cultures. The cordiality of the town has become lost in the size, in the new foundations spreading over the Sava River and beyond the town borders altogether. However, Zagreb is not complete without the part of town that lies outside of the town. Today Zagreb is different. There are more cars. Radios echo everywhere. The golden boys are interested in sports. Thousands of nameless sonnets are no longer written in coffee-houses… (Tin Ujević)
WALKING TOUR OF ZAGREB Walking tours of Zagreb usually start in the heart of the town - Ban Josip Jelačić Square - where visitors can see an equestrian statue of ban Jelačić (the sculptor is Antun Fernkorn, 1866). The three historical parts of Zagreb are the Upper Town (Grič), Kaptol and the Lower Town. Radićeva Street (used to be called Kamenita Street) leads us to the Upper Town and the Stone Gate, the only preserved city gate from the 13th century. Once a guardian of the fortified town, today it is a place of silent prayer filled with the light of numerous candles because in 1760 a baroque chapel, Mother of God, was established there. As a matter of fact, it is a baroque altar in the town walls with a painting of the Holy Virgin which was saved from the great fire of 1731. The fact that the painting did not burn, despite the circumstances, was considered to be a miracle of God, so an altar with the preserved painting was set up in honor of the Mother of God. Passing through the Stone Gate we reach Marko's Square, a site of many important events from Croatia’s past and present. The highest government institutions are located here. The first Croatian National Theatre was established here, and in 1840 Croatian was for the first time on a theater stage in the play "Juran and Sofija", by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski. Today it houses the Zagreb Town Council. Another witness to the past is St. Mark’s Church that dates back to the 13th century, the central building of that historical Zagreb square. The church has been reconstructed many times, so it has properties that belong to different periods. Six centuries, Romanesque, Gothic, and the last Re-gothic style (1876-1882) at the hands of architect Herman Bolle, contributed to the appearance of the church today and is a favorite of future spouses. Married couples would, and still do, take their vows under a picaresque arch with the coats of arms of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonija, and Zagreb; however, it is also where town magistrates, Croatian governors and leaders of the country today take their oaths. If you choose to say a silent prayer in this church, you will be able to see sculptures by Ivan Meštrović - the large Crucifix above the main altar, Pieta and the silver cross, Madonna portrayed as a peasant woman and paintings of Joza Kljaković - frescoes from the Old and New Testament. Nearby, on Catherine’s Square, is St. Catherine’s Church from the 17th century, the most beautiful and the most romantic baroque church in Zagreb. It was used by Jesuits and students of the grammar school founded by the Jesuits in 1607 on the Square. Every street, palace, house, even the cold cobbles in the two squares have their story. It would take too many pages to tell each one, so it is necessary to take a walk and listen to your guide. The guide will tell you about the town palaces, luxurious dances, about Dverce and Lotrščak Tower, museums and archives. The guide will tell you about Opatička Street, today the Croatian Institute for History, housing the five most beautiful halls in Zagreb. One of them, called the Golden hall, is the gallery of Croatian art of the late 19th century. The guide will certainly mention the National House, where members of the Croatian National Revival movement used to gather, and the Revival Hall, where the most beautiful dances in Zagreb took place. You can stroll down the Strossmayer Promenade, which offers a spectacular view of the Lower Town, and you can take a seat on the bench beside the sculpture of A.G. Matoš. To end this tour, you can take a walk down the Vrazova Promenade and search for ghosts of the past in Palajnovka, a coffee-house from 1844. The Lower Town is the part of Zagreb situated on the plain below Grič and Kaptol. Life in Zagreb moved to the Lower town altogether in the late 19th century, when Jelačić Square and Ilica, the longest street in Zagreb, became trade centers, where one came to see and to be seen. It was a time of new vistas which, to this day, remain the most beautiful images of Zagreb. One should take a walk along the Lenucci Horseshoe, a line of squares/parks, stand below the plane-trees on Zrinjevac Square and listen to the rustling leaves in the company of Croatia’s great men. In each green square you will see buildings that are Zagreb’s cultural pride. I recommend the Croatian National Theatre, Art Pavilion and the Mimara Museum. The Croatian National Theater situated in Maršal Tito Square, Cathedral towers, St. Mark’s Church and the Stone Gate are some of the most popular places in Zagreb. The history of the National Theater is also quite interesting. In 1880, the Zagreb Theater Board started a decisive action to find one hundred thousand patriots who would donate 30 coins each every month over a five-year period in order to build the new theater! By hook or by crook patriots were found and the romantic building with the Neo-classicist front and a Neo-baroque interior (the work of Helmer and Felner, architects from Vienna) was built in only 16 months, while a young theater expert, Stjepan Miletić, was the manager. It was his merit that the ceremonious curtain "Croatian Revival" by Vlaho Bukovac, one of the most important Croatian Modernists, opened and closed the stage. The symbolic strike with a silver hammer on the last stone built into the front in 1985 marked the beginning of the theater’s activity. To this day, several thousand dramas, operas and ballets have been performed. Nearby on Roosevelt Square is the Mimara Museum, one of the most visited places in town, which houses numerous paintings of renowned artists, as well as other rare exhibits. The Art Pavilion in the midst of the greenery in Tomislav Square is the oldest center of Croatian visual and applied arts, whose history is a bit unusual. The first purpose of the iron structure of the building was that of an exhibition pavilion for the Triune Kingdom at the Millennium Exhibition in Budapest, which celebrated one millennium of Hungarian arrival to Europe. After the exhibition, the pavilion was disassembled and transported by train to Zagreb, where architects Helmer and Felner assembled it and created the Art Pavilion. The opening ceremony was in 1898, with a representative exhibition in the Croatian Salon, where all eminent Croatian painters, sculptors and representatives of Modernism exhibited their works. Further from the town center there are two peaceful green Zagreb oases – Mirogoj and Maksimir. The unique arcades of Mirogoj Park Cemetery (architect Herman Bolle, 1876) make it one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Europe. There is the Church of Christ the King, tombs of many distinguished people and numerous monuments which make this peaceful place a cultural and historical monument of Zagreb and Croatia. To end this walk through Zagreb, take a stroll through the centuries old woods of Maksimir, a park which has its origins in the old wood of the Zagreb Diocese and in 1843 was one of the most beautiful parks in Europe. Today it is not so luxurious, it is different, simpler and more relaxed. However, the old trees are the same, each one with its own story of Zagreb. All you need to do is listen carefully and you will hear it in the rustling of the leaves. Again we start from Ban Jelačić Square, but this time we take Bakačeva Street towards Zagreb’s oldest settlement – Kaptol. Like Gradec, in fear of the Turkish onslaughts in the 15th century, Kaptol was surrounded by walls and fortresses to defend the canonical residences, the archbishop’s palace, and above all the cathedral – Zagreb’s most important historical monument. The Gothic cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was built from the 13th to end of the 15th century. After being badly damaged in the earthquake of 1880, Herman Bolle gave it an imaginative vertical and marvelously dreamy appearance. It was at that time that the Neo-gothic front with two 105 meter church-towers was built, giving it a unique interior appearance due to the play of proportions and light, thus becoming Zagreb’s distinctive symbol. Very valuable works of art are kept in the treasury. There is a consecrated organ from the 19th century in the choir stalls which is one of the ten most important organs in the world. While enjoying the peacefulness of the cathedral you can see the baroque marble pulpit, marble altars of St. Luke and the Last Supper, Renaissance benches and tombstones of Croatia’s great men and historical and modern works of art like the tomb of the blessed cardinal Alojzije Stepinac. End your walk through Kaptol by taking a look at the 18th century Episcopal palace protected by a wall, walk to Vlaška Street and pause by the statue of August Šenoa – a poet and a writer who epitomizes Zagreb’s spirit, for Zagreb and August Šenoa used to be one in the same. In his works he always came back to Zagreb, telling a story about its history and modernity and destinies and characters that shall forever be a part of Zagreb. Because there is not a place in Zagreb and there is not a face in Zagreb that is not a memory for Šenoa. (Dubravko Jelačić)

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