El Zorro: Balkans 7 : Zagreb (巴爾幹半島之行7:札格勒布)

We were next driven to have a short tour of the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.

In the middle of the square is a monument to the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Facing the monument of Mary is the famous Gothic Roman Catholic Zagreb Cathedral, the tallest building in the city, dedicated to the Assumption of Holy Mary, to Kings St. Stephen and St. Ladislaus of Croatia. Originally built in 1093, it was destroyed by the Mongols in 1242 and later rebuilt and in the 17th century a fortified watchtower was added to its south side, to be used as a military observation point because of frequent Turkish invasions. The main nave of the Cathedral collapsed in an earthquake in 1880 and it had to be redone again when two spires of 324 feet were added to its western side. You can see that some restoration works are now being done. No photos of its interior is allowed. An image of the Cathedral is printed on the 1,000-Kuna Croatian banknote issued in 1993.

There's a castle to one side of the cathedral.

Many of the old buildings of Zagreb are built like this, with buildings fronting the streets and then a passage through it into an interior courtyard where there are more buildings. This is one of such buildings.

This is the fish market, part of the old town on the upper part of the city.

But even here, you find monuments dedicated to music!

And to one side of the square, a gallery of Croatian Naive Art. It was not open as it was Sunday.

At one side of the square, you find a pedlar selling boiled sweet corn.

One of the side streets we passed through on our way to the St. Mark's Church. Hardly anyone on the street, there's a museum of science there with an exhbition about a Croatian scientist who invented the vacuum tube, Nicola Tesla used in electronic radio amplifiers, something which every Hi Fi buff would know but it wasn't open. .

A monument to one of the heroes of ancient Croatia. I forgot his name.

We were then taken to a place where there's an image of Mary, who was supposed to have appeared and performed some curing miracles, at the side of street leading to the St. Mark square.

You can see many old doors in solid wood reinforced by metal bars.

Another entrance was completely covered over with some very primitive metal doors!.

This is the shrine dedicated to Mary

it was quite difficult to see it because it was covered over by a glass pane and one had to stick one's camera through one of those spaces between the floral metal grilles. Some faithfuls had added two jewelled crowns over the head of Mary and Jesus.

Beside it is another sculpture of a lady with a box in one hand and a key in the other.

It's a complete mystery to me why they placed a metal ball over the pillar in front of this old building!

This is another government building: with two flags, probably one the national flag and the other the municipal flag, just behind the St. Mark's Church.

This is the famous Saint Mark's Square in Zagreb in the Gradec district, with its mosaic tiled roof, built in 1880. We were told by the guide that the tiles on the left side depict the medieval coat of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia. On its right is the emblem of Zagreb city. The 13th-century church was named after the annual St Mark's fair, held in Gradec at the time and has retained a 13th-century Romanesque window on the southern side. There are a total of 15 figures in shallow niches over its portal, sculpted in the 14th century. The present bell tower replaces an earlier one that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1502. l

These are the 15 figurines done in the 14th Century for which the Church is famous

A close up on the mosaic tiles

Another side door to the church, much less elaborate

A side altar at the right hand side

A 6 p.m. mass was in progress at the main altar. but not very many faithfuls now

The Gothic roof on the left hand side of the church

A beautiful statue of the Holy Mother and Child inside

The priest is not concerned by the lack of number: a few are still better than none at all! As Jesus once said, "Many are called but few are chosen" .

Nearby is the Supreme Court of Croatia and next to it the Parliament

Another public building, the town council

The Military headquarters: everything together at the same square: the church, the military, the Parliament, the Court! Just no museum or library.

What a way to mark off the corner of two streets.

Nearby is a museum of broken relationships containing all kinds of momentos of happy and not so appy break-offs

The outside of the museum

The words "broken relationship" are split into two parts, with plenty of towers for tears?

A lonely owl above a cactus, enjoying its freedom

A small cafe for reminiscing

The street name is written in artistic scripts with lamps and flowers to match

Another church close by

Close to the Lotrscak Tower, which used to be a clock tower, there is a small promendade which is said to be one of the most romantic places in Zagreb, the Strossmartre, which leans onto the southern walls of the old town and it is towered over by a thick canopy of chestnut trees.Every summer, there'll be a 100-day fair there, with local artists selling their paintings, sculptures or other installation artworks to the rhythms of jazz or old time and beers and drinks flow, right beneath the Lotršćak Tower. This year, it celebrates the entry of Croatia into the EU as a full member.