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We were lucky that the bus left in the afternoon, giving us one more morning and time to visit the City of Zagreb Museum. It was a great place and had been excavated underneath. Remains from very early settlements, the Romans and a Medieval convent, were now on display within the modern building. Part of a wall revealed that it had been made of clay blocks with sticks and wood placed between and around the layers. The wood had been set on fire, providing an in situ way to partially fire the bricks, making them more lasting than a mud brick structure normally would be. A model had been set up to show the process.
There was a lot of information to read and many displays so here is a bit of a summary, along with our progress through the displays.
The following blue text is about Croatian History. Readers who don't want to read so much history can scroll down to the next section of black text.
There is evidence of settlements in the ‘upper town’ from the 8th century BC, when people lived in above ground wattle and daub type houses. At this point we took a wrong turning and suddenly we were in 1991. From here on we went backwards through time, which was a bit confusing, so I will rearrange it to be chronological, as the museum intended.
In 1094, King Ladislas of Hungary and Croatia established a bishopric in Zagreb, as a station for those going on the first crusade and there was a great building boom on Kaptol Hill. By the twelfth century there was a seminary for priests and the laity. In the thirteenth century there was an incursion by the Tartars, so walls were built around the cathedral complex for protection. Immigrants from Italy made a settlement outside the walls, bringing new crafts and a connection to Western Europe that continues to this day.
Meanwhile a second settlement, sponsored by the crown, developed on the next hill called Gradec, with the fort destroyed by the Tartars. To encourage immigrants (other Slavs, Germans, Italians and Hungarians), King Bela IV granted the town the status of a Royal Free Town with special privileges. Members of the town council were elected annually and serfs were granted to the town by the king. By the fourteenth century it was the thriving centre of Slavonia. St Mark’s church was built in the thirteenth century but the roof design of the coats of arms was not in place until the restoration began in 1866.
The Middle Ages saw conflicts between the two towns, with rough justice meted out immediately by magistrates, including death, cutting off of ears or limbs and the pillory. Witch hunting was in vogue in the 17th Century. Over 400 years, 140 women were convicted of witch craft but the death penalty of burning was stayed in most cases. In 1756 Maria Theresa banned the death penalty for witchcraft.
In 1094, King Ladislas of Hungary and Croatia established a bishopric in Zagreb, as a station for those going on the first crusade and there was a great building boom on Kaptol Hill. By the twelfth century there was a seminary for priests and the laity. In the thirteenth century there was an incursion by the Tartars, so walls were built around the cathedral complex for protection. Immigrants from Italy made a settlement outside the walls, bringing new crafts and a connection to Western Europe that continues to this day.
Meanwhile a second settlement, sponsored by the crown, developed on the next hill called Gradec, with the fort destroyed by the Tartars. To encourage immigrants (other Slavs, Germans, Italians and Hungarians), King Bela IV granted the town the status of a Royal Free Town with special privileges. Members of the town council were elected annually and serfs were granted to the town by the king. By the fourteenth century it was the thriving centre of Slavonia. St Mark’s church was built in the thirteenth century but the roof design of the coats of arms was not in place until the restoration began in 1866.
The Middle Ages saw conflicts between the two towns, with rough justice meted out immediately by magistrates, including death, cutting off of ears or limbs and the pillory. Witch hunting was in vogue in the 17th Century. Over 400 years, 140 women were convicted of witch craft but the death penalty of burning was stayed in most cases. In 1756 Maria Theresa banned the death penalty for witchcraft.
The Ottomans remained a threat from 1469 until 1593, and, although Bosnia was taken and remained under the Ottomans for centuries, the then Slavonia, of which modern Croatia and Zagreb were parts, were able to fend them off. Extending and completing the cathedral was then a major priority, with many renovations and reconstructions to continue throughout the centuries. A whole area of the museum was devoted to the items taken from the church at different stages. Hermann Bollé designed the most recent gothic restoration after the earthquake in 1880 caused enormous damage.
The first guilds or professional and craft associations were set up in the fifteenth century, running as a group enterprise with its own finances, standards and provision for the widows and orphans of its members. By 1872 they had become an ‘impediment to the economic development of the city’ and were banned. Goodness knows what they were up to. Zagreb attracted craftsmen and all apprentices had to attend drawing school, which resulted in a very high level of artistic expression in even every day items. By the beginning of the 17th Century wars, plagues and fires had taken their toll and so had the annual bun fights when the election of the council was held. Instead of everyone having a say, some prominent citizens arranged for it to become a system of senators, elected for life, with twenty-two deputies who chose the mayor from the senators. Surprise, surprise – there was civil unrest, since the new system led to the creation of privileged families. King Mathias approved it all and in 1629 the new electoral ‘system’ was proclaimed in Croatian, following its original proclamation in Latin.Religious orders like the Jesuits were invited to come and enlighten the inhabitants in the 17th century, in both spiritual and academic areas. The Bishop invited a writer and printer, Pavao Ritter, to come, and in 1690 the first book was published. Books were written and printed in Croatian and a public library was opened, sponsored by the church and the aristocracy. During this time there was a Marian cult, with many churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the war of 1699, aristocrats, some of whom purchased their titles, built mansions and palaces in the Gradac area close to St Mark’s Square. An ‘Edict of Toleration’ was issued in 1781 by Joseph II, and that encouraged the immigration of businessmen, particularly from Greece, and the establishment of an Orthodox Church community. It was very much an international community with links to Western Europe.
An Illyrian movement began in the 1830s which promoted Croatian Nationalism. It established many economic and cultural groups and in 1847 Croatian was proclaimed by the Croatian Parliament as the official language of Croatia. Political parties arose for the first time with one supporting the Illyrians and wearing special clothes to show it, and another favouring the Hungarian line. At this time Baron Josep Jelocic was appointed Croatian Governor and General, and, since he was an Illyrian, the National Assembly unanimously elected him as Governor of the Tripartite Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. He followed the people’s wishes by abolishing feudalism and uniting Dalmatia with Croatia and Slavonia. In 1848 the Zagreb crowd went crazy, feasting and partying for two days to welcome him and celebrate the changes. He was installed as the Ban (Governor) and went on to side with and lead Croatia in a war against the Hungarian insurgents and in the fight for a proper place for the kingdom within the Hungarian Monarchy. He is a great national hero.
The last Ban was sworn in in 1869. The 19th century was a time of modernisation with street lighting and public transport being introduced and developed.
The late 19th Century and early 20th Centuries were times of great building projects, with the earthquake prompting some, and some careful town planning for the lower city requiring others. The population increased by 48% in the last decade of the 19th century to 57,000. On July 28th 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and as part of the Empire, Croatians were called up and fought for the Monarchy. Zagreb Units fought on the Balkan front and, in the following year, on the Italian front. This means that Croatians, through no direct concern of their own, but under the command of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to which they had been attached since the Middle Ages while under Hungary, were fighting their immediate geographic neighbours, Serbia and Italy. There were extreme food shortages for the troops and the people in Zagreb, with rationing and ‘meatless Tuesdays and Fridays’ being introduced. Bells and roofs were taken from churches to provide the raw materials required for the war. There were some military successes, but also many casualties, with streams of wounded and the starving from Bosnia stretching the capacity of hospitals and charitable organisations. When Emperor Franz Joseph died in 1916, the Austro-Hungarian Empire effectively ended and, in 1918, the Hapsburg Monarchy collapsed and the Yugoslavian Union was created as a kingdom. Its members had geography and some language in common, but religion and historical connections to other Empires and countries as differences. Some had just fought against each other in the war. Croatia as a nation ceased to exist.The population of Zagreb had doubled again since the turn of the century and in the 1920s there was a housing crisis, which resulted in the building of welfare housing and large multi-storey blocks of flats. Zagreb maintained international connections by tendering to international companies and encouraging business and economic growth. Divisions between the rich and poor widened, with the poor living in squalid housing and the rich attending theatres and enjoying a rich cultural life, while living in villas and mansions.
In 1941 Croatia was proclaimed as an independent Republic and the Germans marched into Zagreb. The ‘Treaties of Rome’ gave part of Croatia’s territory to Italy and a reign of terror by the fascists began, with Jews, Serbs, communists and anyone out of favour with the Ustasha being victimised. A resistance movement formed and partisan actions resulted in fierce reprisals and, by 1943, hangings were everyday occurrences. Anti-fascist organisations were set up as early as 1941, and they arranged for the escape of many people and supported the resistance movement by forming an army of partisans. When the Third Reich fell, so did the Independent Nation of Croatia. The government was handed over to the National Defence and the previous leaders left the country. We heard that they had been stopped in their flight by the British and returned to Croatia to face judgement. There was little mercy in their treatment and thousands were killed. There are still resentments between the descendents of the pro and anti-fascists from the time of the Second World War, which play out as an extra tier of vengeance and retribution in the problems with Serbia and Bosnia.
As the fascists and the German Army left, the Yugoslav Army marched in. Serbia had been with Russia in the war, on the side of the Allies. A communist government was then formed which brought in major changes, with the five pointed star replacing signs of nationalism and the statues that reminded people of independence, such as the one of Ban Josep Jelocic in Central Square, being removed. While industries and infrastructure were renewed, trials, shootings and gaol sentences, targeting former fascists and opponents of the new government, were regular events, confirming the totalitarian nature of the new regime. In the late 1950s and the 1960s, attempts were made to reconnect with the world, with exhibitions by international artists and the influence of television and greater access to ideas was being felt. The population in Zagreb had doubled again, this time bringing a major change in the demographic because the increase in industries led to an influx of workers from the countryside. There was more money and the city expanded. New intellectual and arts movements renewed interest in national independence and university students led the push for a freer and more democratic Croatia.
By 1989, at the same time as the bringing down of the Berlin wall, the first political parties were being set up. The European communist governments collapsed. On May 30th 1990 the first multi-party government was convened and on June 25th 1991, an independent Croatia was proclaimed, with the symbolic replacement of the Ban Josep Jelocic statue in the square. Croatia was forced into a war for independence by Greater Serbian extremists supported by the Yugoslav Army. Everyone in Croatia was affected by air raids and ground attacks, with Zagreb citizens fighting in the field, bombing of areas around government buildings, and taking in refugees from all over the country. The attack on Croatia lasted six months, but neighbouring Bosnia was under attack until 1995. In 1995 there was an additional strike on Croatia, which did not last very long, and the war was finally over.
The Pope visited to help celebrate nine centuries of having a Catholic See in Zagreb.
It seems strange to me that you would wage a war on someone you wanted to keep as part of your nation, as Serbia did to try to keep Croatia and Bosnia (and others) as part of Yugoslavia. Many views on this have been presented to us, the main ones being that Yugoslavia’s resources, work forces and industries were being dissipated by the splitting off of member states, and that each had Serbs living in their territories, and there were fears that they would treated as second class citizens, and forced to go to Serbia or to concentration camps.
I am not an apologist for Serbia and the barbarity of the wars they initiated on other members of the Federation of Yugoslavia when they proclaimed their independence, but I wish that we had visited Serbia to learn how they construe the events that we have learnt about from the Bosnian and Croatian points of view.
A quick race to the Cathedral and St Marks Church enabled us to see how elaborate their interiors are and how many smaller altars are dedicated to Mary and the Saints, each with either beautiful statues and paintings or a combination of both.
Back at the flat we said farewell to Vladimir. He had been a kind and helpful host and we had enjoyed many interesting discussions with him.The bus trip to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, took us across a border and into ‘Euroland’; the countries in the European Union. The border crossing was efficient since we were the only passengers on the bus.
The bus station is right next to the train station in Ljubljana, so when we arrived we went in to find out about the options for travelling to France by train and to visit the tourist office. While I was guarding the bags, I spoke to two young women who were in distress, ringing their parents in England to find out why one of them had had her money card blocked. The other one’s card had been eaten by the automatic teller a few days before. We waited with them while they sorted things out, and then with a forty-eight hour delay before they would be financial again, we lent them some money to reach their next destination and some friends who could help them. The plan is that they will pay us back in England when we get there, since they live quite near our son, Rohan. I feel confident and comfortable with this arrangement, but it is true that people have been scammed this way. I think it is important to believe in the good in people, while keeping your eyes open, and I would hope that someone would help our children if they were in such a situation.
It was dinner time by the time we had taken a local bus to our hostel, where our ‘private bathroom’ turned out to be between two rooms with access from either side. We usually have a shared bathroom and had opted for a little bit of luxury for one night. We cooked for once, and enjoyed gnocchi along with our salad. The next morning we were to meet our brother-in-law, Alan, and also to change hostels to a handier and cheaper one.
More signs of being very much in the west and leaving Eastern Europe behind: mechanichal street cleaning, pet dogs, prams for babies, and expensive motorcycles.
The Inverleigh Historical Society's 18th Century document storage chest appears to have found its way into the Zagreb Museum collection.
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