A City Full of Wonders: Five Things You Didn't Know about Zagreb
1. Shortcut between the Upper town and Lower town
If you're tired of walking around Zagreb, try not to miss our funicular. Yes, you really can be late for it and you know how they say: „Never run after public transport or boys and girls. Wait for another one to come“. :)
Zagreb's Funicular was built in 1890 in Tomićeva street and since then it has been connecting Zagreb's Lower Town and Upper Town (Ilica street with Strossmayer promenade to the north). It has 66-meter track and is considered to be the shortest public transport in the world. Through the years, some of the engines have been replaced, but it kept its original shape and became one of the main symbols of Zagreb.
Image credit: Marko Vrdoljak, Zagreb Tourist Board
2. Legend behind Miškec's passage
In the 20th century, there was this beautiful girl named Štefica Videčić who made all the boys fall in love with her. Also, she was the first Miss of Zagreb and later Miss of Europe. The legend says that among all these boys, there was a guy named Miško who fell madly in love with her. His love wasn't returned so he left his job, started drinking and after a while he went broke. Since he was always sleeping in the same spot, the passage was named Miškec's passage in his memory.
3. Museum of Broken Relationships
We all had our ups and downs in our relationships, but what do you do when everything ends? Some of us throw all the memories in trash, some keep it, but some of us donate it to the museum! Musem of Broken Relationships is located in Zagreb's Upper Town and it collects personal items from failed love relationships. Museum was founded in 2010 and only a year later it received the Kenneth Hudson Award for Europe's most innovative museum. You can find all sorts of things there – from love letters, teddy bears, pictures to wedding albums and dresses. Until now, the Museum has collected more than 100 items that are at the same time shocking, nostalgic, sad and even a bit funny – depending on the ending of the story.
Image credit: brokenship.com
4. A favourite professor of all times – worldwide!
If you have ever sung those catchy rhymes „Balt... Balthazar, Balt... Balthazar, Balthazaaar!“ then you know what we are talking about. If not, then you really need to meet our Professor! Professor Balthazar is animated series about an old inventor that was produced between 1967 and 1978. The author of the series was Zagreb School of Animated Film which made 59 episodes lasting 5 to 10 minutes. Through time, Balthazar became so popular that the tales of his adventures were shown in 30 countries worldwide.
Image credit: Marko Vrdoljak/Zagreb Tourist Board
5. Unique installation – real model of Solar system
If you walked through Bogovićeva Street and if you were headed to Flower Square then you must have seen a golden ball in the middle of the street. What you have seen is the Sun, one of the many installations in Zagreb made within project Nine Views by Davor Preis in 2004. Ivan Kozarić originally made the Sun in 1971 but it was damaged. Since 1994, a replica of the Sun took its place and after a while, Preis decided to make the entire solar system. Today, there are nine planets on ten different locations throughout the city. The distance between the planets corresponds to the real distance in the Solar system. So if you are ready for the journey, try to find all of them. But keep in mind that cheating is not allowed! :)
Header image credit: Marko Vrdoljak, Zagreb Tourist Board
Author: Petra Kaić