Things to Do in Zagreb

This is just rad! What a concept! Originally a travelling exhibit, this museum is a like a morbid tribute to romance, sort of like what zombies are to living humans. Two Zagreb residents who’d been in love asked their friends (as a joke at first) to contribute memorabilia from their broken relationships. The idea snowballed into a successful world tour, culminating in Zagreb’s first private museum, once enough donations had been acquired from the world over! It’s been lauded as one of the most daring private museum projects ever. It’s bittersweet, and an unexpected emotional rollercoaster. The exhibits are arranged along three distinct themes:

• Material Remains: paraphernalia like letters and gifts left over from relationships.
• Virtual Web: registered visitors can upload content from their own failed relationships
• Confessional: a confidential storage for private memories.

Put on your comfiest footwear this is going to take hours and hours for you to do at a slow and leisurely pace. And yeah, take your time. Historically, this thousand year old neighborhood place is the heart of Zagreb and so walking along will take you past a good number of sights. There’s the Ban Jelagic Square wish is traditionally the starting point for any tourist visiting the city; the Stone Gate is now a shrine with supposed magical powers; the historical Tomiceva Street is today a vey pretty hangout and still spot. Halfway between the Ban Jelagic Square and the central railway station is the Zrinjevac square another pretty spot with a number of significant buildings around it. Rounding off these fellows is the 13th century Lotrscak Tower that fires every day at noon to mark the time. For a fee, you can actually climb up the thing. So what with the shopping, and eating, and just plain gambolling, Gornji Grad is your Zagreb kickstarter.

Deceptively understated to look at, this church actually houses some prominent treasures. Chief among these are the south portal by the Parler family of sculptors from Prague a brilliant gothic portal of 15 effigies in eleven niches. Approaching the roof from the square, you’ll see the coat of arms of the Triune Kingdom and for Zagreb city itself. The latter one is also engraved into the northwest wall the oldest coat of arms in the city, dating from 1499. The square right in front of the church is where the Croatian presidents are inaugurated.

This building simply imoses its presence on all those who stand before it – as it well should; it’s the tallest building in the country. The original cathedral here was built in 1093 but it was destroyed a litte of 200 years later by the Tatars. It was built up again only to be destroyed by the 1880 Zreb earthquaker one which damaged a military defensive watch-tower beyond repair. Gothic to begin with, it’s repairs progressed in Neo-Gothic style. It’s impressive (if still under renovation) spires reach 106 metres into the sky.

To see:

• The entrance portal
• Sarcophagus of blessed AlojzijeStepinac
• The Mary Column
• The Neo-gothic tower
• The spectacular stained glass
• The Baroque marble altar
• The 6068 pipes organ

An incredibly popular hangout with the locals, the lake offers up a plethora of fun (at least, by the standards of Zagreb). Walk, jog, picnic, roller-skate or skateboard that’s the surface of it all. The lake itself is a poplar windsurfing venue; there are spectator stands from which viewers can watch rowing races; pebble beaches surrounding the water that host popular bars. In summer, the water is very popular with swimmers. When you approach the lake, if you head left, you’ll get to the swimming, canoe and paddle boat rental area; if you head right, you get to the pebble beach and windsurfing. There are also a good number of nightclubs around.

A castle set atop a mountain classic. Though there isn’t much to see of the castle itself, but the views it allows over Zagreb is pretty special. A number of historical festivals are held here throughout the year. The main attraction here is the mountain itself though it rises steeply into the sky, has a great number of biking and hiking trails. It’s a popular getaway, so expect the place to be crowded on weekends. On the good hand though, there are a number of cafes and restaurants open at the top for you till early in the evening a wonderful option after the climb.

The most WYSIWYG attraction in town, this viewpoint on the sixteen floor of a skyscraper in the heart of the city offers the best views a 360-degree panorama. And there’s literally nothing else to do here. Bring your own snacks and prepare your camera for sights of Kaptol, Gradec, Upper Town, Lower Town,and pretty much everything else that’s important about Zagreb and the Medjevac mountains off in the distance. The best part is how the viewpoint is open late into the evening, so you can come back here at night to see the city all lit up an enchanting sight during Christmas and New Years.

Housed in a neo-Renaissance palace and originally serving as a gymnasium, the museum houses fine art (paintings, sculptures and ornaments) right from prehistoric times to modernity. Most of it’s collection on permanent display are by Flemish, French, Dutch, English and German masters; the works ere donated to the Croatian nation by the collector Ante Topic Mimara. The collection continues to grow through acquisitions today. The museum is starting to build quite an impressive middle east and far east collection. The top floor is dedicated to paintings, the first floor to archaeology, sculpture and applied art, and the ground floor to glass, textiles and Oriental art. The collection isn’t the best in the world, but it’s wonderfully discerning.

The Mimara Museum in Croatia is well reputed for its vast collection of fine arts right from the prehistoric times to the very modern ones. You can enter and view this astounding collection by getting tickets for Mimara Museum. These can be bought on the spot, but the usual rush generally wastes a lot of time in the line. Instead buy tickets for Mimara Museum from out ticketing portal and combine them with Mimara Museum tickets for tours for some added fun. You can also view Mimara Musuem ticket prices in this section to check the prices before you go into buying them.

Ljudevit Gaj, a major Croatian linguist commissioned one of Zagreb’s leading architects, Herman Bolle, to build him A Town of The Dead. And so this Neo-Renaissance wonder was born in 1879, with the construction of some magnificent arcades and a chapel when you visit, it doesn’t feel like you’re entering a graveyard, but a citadel. The architecture emphasizes balance and symmetry, and the beauty doesn’t stop at the building. Many important Croatians, Austro-Hungarians and Yugoslavs have been interred here, and their tombs are architectural marvels in their own right. The monuments to fallen soldiers are no less incredible. Peaceful, enchanting and solemn, the cemetery is one of Zagreb’s proudest possessions.

There’s nothing like good ole farmer’s market to get you well and proper into the spirit of a place. The best of the local produce, the choicest of the local meats, the most authentic of the local people they all come together here. It’s right of the Ban Jelagic Square, so access isn’t a problem. If you’ve come around just to experience the bustle, then there are a large number of cafes and restaurants nearby that’ll satiate you. You’ll find that it’s an open air market avoe and sheltered market below. The weekend fish market is apparently to die for.

As far as fine art goes, this is a bit different. It’s not contemporary art either, as much as untrained art. The artists exhibited here have had no formal education in art, at least in principle. Most of them are 20th century artists and many of them are internationally famous. Still, most of the work here is a result of the artist’s own unbound creative expression and often builds on common themes like “joy, childhood and wonder”. Though it houses about 1850 items, only about 80 pieces are on display. Sometimes the museum holds exhibitions that focus on the works of a specific artist or theme. Over 10000 people visit ever year.

Named after the man you conceived the park, this place is an excellent family day retreat with meadows, creeks, lakes and woods. It is THE place to relax, and a pretty one: it was landscaped extensively in Baroque, Romantic and Neo-classical styles. Picnic, walk, jog or whatever just chill at the park. Though the park itself has plenty of animals the real deal is the zoo at the southern end of the park. The zoo’s small size allows for better management of the animals who in genera seem happy.  The animals include meerkats, tapis, otters, sea lions, gray seals, lemurs and two humped camels!

They’re going for quantity over quality in this one. With over 400,00 artefacts from various sources, the museum combines ambience and philosophy with its exhibits. That’s not to say there are no famous items; there’s the Liber Linteus (the longest Etruscan inscription in the world with a mummy and the LumbardaPsephisma (a scroll telling the fouding of an ancient Greek colony on the island of Korcula).

• Ground Floor: Numismatic exhibition.
• 2nd Floor: Greek and Roman Collection.
• 3rd Floor: Prehistoric and Egyptian collection.
• Lapidarium: An archaeological park in the courtyard with stone monuments from the Roman Period.