Walking Around Zagreb

  Zagreb is the largest city and Capitol of Croatia. It extends approximately 19 miles on an east-west line and 12 miles on a north-south line. The Roman town of Andautonia was the first settlement here. Zagreb, the origins of its name still remains a mystery, became a free Royal town in 1242.

  Before making our first extensive exploration of Zagreb, we took a side-trip to the Caritas charitable organization near the Cathedral to donate some of the clothing we had determined to be unneeded to the poor. How can a week's worth of clothing each, contain "excessive" items? It does seem counter-intuitive. That decision came after five months of travel, washing and rewashing the clothes we were using, and having to deal with lifting the bags into airline overhead bins. This process reinforced our belief that we do not need "...a lot of stuff..." to enjoy life.

  With this side trip completed, we centered our explorations around Ban Jelacic square. Named after Count Josip Jelacic, an Austrian general who became Governor of Croatia from 1848 to 1859, it has served as Zagreb's commercial heart for over four centuries. Most of the current buildings surrounding the square date from the 19th century due to fires, earthquakes, and invasions that destroyed the older buildings. The following pictures depict some of the places we visited on this part of our trip.

The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of those structures that provide a central orientation point for explorations. Construction of the Cathedral began around 1094. Many additions and renovations followed over the succeeding centuries. A turreted outer wall was added as fortification against raids from the Ottoman Empire. The bell tower was added in the 17th century..

The Cathedral's defensive walls with round towers were constructed after the threat from raids from the Ottoman Turks was at its height (between 1512 and 1521).

Ornate sculptures and statues decorate the entrance.

An Austrian sculptor by the name of Fernkorn designed this gold-plated statue of the Virgin Mary with four surrounding Angels (representing Faith, Hope, Innocence, and Humility) situated facing the Cathedral.

The ornate main altar...

...stands in front of the tomb of Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960. He was beatified (in preparation to being declared a Saint) in 1998 by Pope John Paul II.

Situated next to the Cathedral is a museum dedicated to the life of Cardinal Stepinac.

On the fortification wall on the opposite side of the square from the Cardinal Stepinac museum is this ancient clock. It stopped working at 7:03 following the massive earthquake of 1880.

Brought to Zagreb at the beginning of the 20th century as a gift from the Mazuranic family is this statue of St. George after he had just killed a dragon.

Maria Juric Zagorka (1873-1957) was the first female professional journalist in Croatia. Writing under the pen-name "Zagorka " she wrote a number of novels in which "...love stories and grand historical themes were intertwined." She was a champion of equal rights.

The Stone Gate entrance to the Upper Town is the only old town gate that has remained intact since it's construction in the Middle Ages.

Under the archway of the Stone Gate is this chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, patron saint of Zagreb. The painting within the shrine miraculously survived a devastating fire in 1731. Plaques along the side walls were placed there by families that prayed to the Virgin Mary for her intercession and had their prayers answered.

The oldest pharmacy in Zagreb is located on Kamenita ulica (Stone Street). It was founded in 1355 and some documents indicate that Dante Alighieri's great-grandson, Nicolo Alighieri, worked here as a pharmacist in 1399.

Some of the old fashion pharmaceutical containers still on display.

The inside of the oldest pharmacy, still very much in business, with Vesna, the pharmacist behind the counter.