Zagreb History Facts and Timeline

(Zagreb, Croatia)

Croatia's capital Zagreb is also its largest city, boasting a truly diverse economy thanks to its geographic setting in the Pannonian Basin.

This location has been vital to the history of Zagreb, putting it at the heart of ancient traffic routes between the Adriatic Sea and Central Europe, a fact that regional powers have exploited for centuries. Today, the city's sizable industry and transport connections keep Croatia's economy humming along.

A Tale of Two Cities

Zagreb's history appears to officially begin at the very end of the 11th century, when King Ladislaus of Hungary founded a diocese on a hill next to the Sava River. A small town grew up around the community and its cathedral, being known as Kaptol. Just to the west, a fortified hill supported a larger town called Gradec, populated by traders and farmers. The Medvescak stream served as the boundary between these two towns.


Though the name Zagreb was in use at that early time, the city actually existed as two separate settlements. Today, this early history of Zagreb remains in place as Gradec is now the Upper Town (Gornji Grad), one of Croatia's finest historic city centres. It wasn't until 1851 that the two towns were actually integrated, thanks to the prodding of Count Josip Jelacic, who has the city's main square named after him.

The Medieval Era

The secular sovereign town of Gradec and the diocese of Kaptol maintained a reciprocal relationship throughout their history, despite a lack of true unity. Politics and economy created an inter-dependent relationship, even when Zagreb emerged as the capital and became the political heart of Croatia and Slavonia.

Croatia's very first parliament convened in Gradec in the middle of the 16th century, representing Dalmatia and Slavonia, as well as Croatia. The presence of religious power in Kaptol attracted the Jesuits, who constructed St. Catherine's Church, the city's first grammar school. In the late 1660s, an academy that would eventually evolve into today's University of Zagreb was founded.

Croatian National Revival

The 19th century was a good period in Zagreb's history. As the heart of Croatia's National Revival movement, the city enjoyed a burst of pride and built many of its most important historic structures and cultural institutions. The two towns were finally united in the mid-19th century, under the city's earliest mayor, Janko Kamauf.

Development came fast and furious after this successful amalgamation. A railway line connecting Zagreb with Zidani arrived in 1862, followed by gasworks a year later, while the city's waterworks came along in the following decade. Most of the grid structure of today's modern city was laid out during the late 19th century, and various traditions were started at this time, such as the daily midday firing of the Gric Cannon from Lotrscak Tower on the first day of 1877.

Modern Times Arrive in the City

Just before WWI, Zagreb underwent a major expansion. New neighbourhoods and suburbs such as both Crnomerec and Stara Pescenica were created to handle the influx in population, which jumped by almost three-quarters during the 1920s.

The recent history of Zagreb was also influenced by WWII, in which the city was the capital of the German and Italian-backed Independent State of Croatia. Of course, at the end of the war, the city surrendered to the Partisans. When Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, Zagreb was named the capital of the new nation. Since then, it has pursued a path of economic development through commercial transport and industrial manufacturing, as well as tourism.