Visiting Zagreb, the capital of Croatia
Zagreb
is a lovely Austro-Hungarian style city, full of glorious churches,
museums and art galleries. It is divided into an upper and lower town,
each with its own distinctive character, which meet at the vast, paved
main square, Trg Bana Jelacica.
The upper
town, Gornji Grad, is the oldest part of the city, and is set on two
hills. It is easy to spend time wandering through the winding cobbled
streets that lead you from one splendid building to another. Starting
from the main square you pass the city's main market on your way to the
cathedral. First built in 1217, this has been rebuilt and added to over
the centuries - its neo-Gothic facade and twin steeples were added in
the 1880s. The interior is an ornate masterpiece, and the north wall
carries the Ten Commandments written in a twelfth-century script. St
Mark's Church, dating from the thirteenth century and restored in the
1880s, is famous for the red, white and blue tiles on its roof arranged
in the coats of arms of Zagreb and the kingdoms of Croatia, Dalmatia and
Slavonia. The Lotrscak Tower, which is part of the thirteenth-century
fortifications, affords spectacular views over the city, and every day
at noon a cannon is fired in remembrance of its past role in warning the
citizens of imminent attack.
A funicular
railway goes down to the lower town (Donji Grad), which was built to a
grid design in the late nineteenth century and is made up of handsome
squares set around central gardens, wide boulevards and parks. Most of
the museums are here, including the Mimara Museum and the Strossmayer
Gallery of Old Masters.
