History Zagreb - Historical and Cultural Information about Zagreb
Finding-site in the cave Veternica proofs the existence of life since prehistoric times in the today's area of Zagreb. However, the name of Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in 1094, when Ladislaw, the king of Hungary, formed a diocese in it. During that time settlement called Gradec also developed on the nearby hill and today Gradec is the part of the city of Zagreb known as the Old Town or the Upper Town. In the year 1242 both Gradec and Zagreb were greatly affected by Tatar attacks. In that same year Gradec was pronounced free royal city by the Croatian-Hungarian king Bela IV because the people of Gradec offered Bela safe haven from Tatar attacks.
In the year 1557 the city of Zagreb found itself in danger again - the Turks were ruthlessly attacking but in that same year Zagreb was mentioned as the capital city for the first time even though Croatian governors did not have their seat in Zagreb until 17th century. In fact, it was the famous Nikola Frankopan who, for the first time in history, choose Zagreb as his headquarters.
In the year 1607 Jesuits from the city of Ljubljana came to Zagreb (they were asked to come to Zagreb by the Croatian Parliament) and in 1669 they already opened an academy where they taught law, philosophy and theology.
17th and 18th century was especially difficult because fire, as well as plague devastated the city of Zagreb a few times. On the other hand, 19th century was a good period for Zagreb because the city grew politically, artistically as well as economically.
The city of Zagreb, just like the rest of Croatia, also spent a certain period being governed by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy but Croatian Parliament put an end to it - 29th of October 1918 all official connections between Croatia and Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were cut off and Zagreb became the part of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians.
"Surviving" the two World Wars as well as the Croatian fight for independence, in 1991 Zagreb became the capital city of Croatia as well as one of the most interesting and most beautiful cities in Middle Europe.
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