Upper Town & Kaptol: the back story

About Upper Town & Kaptol: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Zagreb Editorial Team

Zagreb was born as two towns on two hills: Kaptol, the seat of the bishop around the cathedral, and Gradec, a royal free town of merchants and craftsmen. For centuries they quarrelled, even fought, across the stream that is now Tkalčićeva, until they were united as one city in 1850.

Two towns

In 1094 the Hungarian king founded a bishopric on the hill of Kaptol, and in 1242 another king, grateful for shelter during the Mongol invasion, made neighbouring Gradec a royal free town. The two communities, church and merchants, lived side by side but rarely in peace.

Bloody Bridge

Between them ran a stream, the Medveščak, crossed by a wooden bridge. Disputes between the towns became so violent that the bridge was nicknamed Krvavi most, the Bloody Bridge, a name still carried by the little street that links Tkalčićeva and Radićeva. The stream was covered over in the 19th century and became Tkalčićeva street.

Zagreb’s busiest café street was once the border between two rival towns.

Gradec

Gradec, the Upper Town, keeps its medieval street plan: lanes of baroque palaces leading to St Mark’s Square, where the church with its tiled roof faces the Croatian Parliament and government. The Stone Gate, the last of the old town gates, shelters a shrine, and Lotrščak Tower fires its cannon at noon.

Kaptol

On Kaptol, the cathedral’s twin neo-Gothic spires, rebuilt by Hermann Bollé after the earthquake of 1880, dominate the skyline. Around it stand the canons’ houses and fragments of the old walls, with Dolac market just below.

Our advice: start at Dolac in the morning, visit the cathedral, walk along Tkalčićeva and cross Krvavi most to Radićeva, climb through the Stone Gate to St Mark’s Square, and end at Strossmayer Promenade for the view. Ride the funicular down.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Upper Town & Kaptol: the back story before you go.