Lower TownZagreb's inner centre, from Ilica and Vlaška to the railway

Lower Town at a glance

• Residents (2021 Census)⁴⁴31,209
• Households renting⁴⁵8.0%
• Area⁴⁸3.0 km²
• Neighbourhoods in our guide3
• Local committees⁴⁹14

Rents are asking prices from active listings on NajamStanova; residents and renting come from the 2021 Census. Households renting are those paying a market rent.

Where Lower Town is

The district takes in the inner city centre, from Kvaternikov trg and Heinzelova in the east to Ulica Republike Austrije in the west, and from Ilica, Trg bana Jelačića, Jurišićeva and Vlaška in the north to the railway in the south.⁴ The northern border, with Gornji grad – Medveščak, runs along Ilica from Ulica Republike Austrije. At Medulićeva it switches to the south side of Ilica and continues along the south side of Trg bana Jelačića and Jurišićeva, the west side of Draškovićeva up to Vlaška and the north side of Vlaška to Kvaternikov trg.^1,2 It goes round the west side of the square and down the west side of Heinzelova to the railway. Across Heinzelova lies Maksimir as far as Zvonimirova, and Peščenica – Žitnjak further south.^1,3

In the south the border follows the south side of the Zagreb-Ljubljana railway, then the north side of Koturaška cesta to Savska, with Trnje on the other side.^1,4 From there it runs north along the east side of Savska to Crnatkova, with Trešnjevka – sjever opposite, crosses Savska and continues along the south side of Jukićeva and Jagićeva to Ulica Republike Austrije, whose east side it follows to Ilica. Donji grad, Gornji grad – Medveščak and Črnomerec meet at that junction.^1,3 No stream or river appears in the border description: the railway and Koturaška cesta form the southern edge.^1,2

Neighbourhoods in Donji grad

• Lower TownThe planned 19th-century grid of streets and squares between Ilica and the railway, with the Green Horseshoe, the main station and the Croatian National Theatre.Lower Town neighbourhood guide
• ZrinjevacTrg Nikole Šubića Zrinskog on a former cattle fair, a park opened in 1873 with Trieste plane trees, a bandstand, palaces and the Archaeological Museum.Zrinjevac neighbourhood guide
• KvatrićTrg Eugena Kvaternika, an industrial edge of town around 1900 where three districts meet; Donji grad has its market, Badel block and Arko estate.Kvatrić neighbourhood guide

District council and local committees

Zagreb's City Statute of 14 December 1999 created the 17 city districts and the local committees (mjesni odbori).⁵ Borders and seats are set by the decision on district borders and seats, adopted by the City Assembly on 26 February 2009. The statistical yearbook lists an earlier decision from 2000 alongside it.^1,5 The amendments of 2017 and 2020 left Donji grad's border description unchanged, so the consolidated text has the same wording as in 2009.^3,2

The district's local committees, with the streets and house numbers of each, are listed in the amendment to the decision on local committees of 21 March 2017.³ The district council elected in 2025 has 15 members and first met on 25 June 2025.⁶ By the decision on borders and seats, the district's seat is at Ilica 25, while the council and the City administration's local office use the address Trg Petra Svačića 17.^1,2,7,8

14 local committees (mjesni odbori) in Lower Town: Andrija Medulić, August Šenoa, Cvjetni trg, Hrvatski narodni vladari, Knez Mislav, Kralj Petar Svačić, Kralj Zvonimir, Matko Laginja, Mimara, Nadbiskup Antun Bauer, Pavao Šubić, Petar Krešimir IV., Petar Zrinski, Zrinjevac.⁴⁹

People in Donji grad

At the 2021 Census, 31,209 people lived in Donji grad in 14,631 households. 1,175 households, or 8.0%, paid a market rent (Zagreb: 7.7%). The average household had 2.1 members.^44,45

The district covers 3.0 km², about 10,334 people per square kilometre (Zagreb average: 1,196).⁴⁸

Its parts: what is where in Donji grad

According to the City, Donji grad was built mostly in the 19th century, and the part east of Draškovićeva in the first half of the 20th century.¹¹ The western and central parts follow the first general regulatory plan of 1865, which drew the streets and squares as a regular grid between Savska and Petrinjska, from Ilica and Vlaška down to a park planned by the railway.⁹ The City's 2011 land-use survey gives 43.9% of the district to housing and mixed use, 31.8% to traffic, 10% to public and social use and 7.6% to public green space.⁴

In 1905 the city engineer Milan Lenuci drew a regulatory plan for the area from Vlaška and Draškovićeva to the railway and Bauerova. It was never adopted, but it set the area's main lines, with Trg žrtava fašizma as the middle of three squares.¹² A study by the Institute of Art History counts among the largest building ventures of the 1920s the superblock of rental buildings of the Zagreb Archdiocese's benefice between Vlaška, Bauerova and Martićeva, built from 1926 to 1930, with 25 buildings and about 180 flats.¹²

A housing micro-district laid out on free-plan lines went up in the extended Martićeva from 1948 to 1957, and Ivan Vitić's apartment buildings with a small square at Laginjina 9 from 1958 to 1962.¹² The edge street Branimirova filled with housing for workers and staff of nearby factories from the 1940s to the 1970s. The strip by the railway had traditionally been meant for industry, so there was still free land for Yugoslav Army officers' housing at Trpimirova 9 to 15, built from 1953 to 1956, and ten-storey tower blocks in Domagojeva in 1966.¹² The newest is the Park Kneževa block between Branimirova and Bornina, built from 2020 to 2022, with a footpath through it linking the two streets.¹³

In the west, at Klaićeva 13, stands the Tobacco Factory building, built in 1882 to a design by Rupert Melkus. Production there stopped in 2007, and the building is a protected cultural monument.^14,3 The City's 2019 analysis names Blok Badel, Medika and Nada Dimić as the district's disused industrial sites, and Blok Badel, a congress centre and a rail link to the airport as its strategic development projects.⁴

Where the name Lower Town comes from

Donji grad (Lower Town) is the name of the area south of Gradec, the Upper Town, which grew in the 19th century below Gradec and Kaptol.^10,9 The district and the neighbourhood share the name, and the Donji grad neighbourhood guide tells its history.

Roads, rail and lines in Donji grad

Ilica and Vlaška run along the district's northern edge, Heinzelova along the east, Savska cesta and Ulica Republike Austrije along the west, and Koturaška cesta by the railway in the south.¹ According to the 2018 traffic study, Branimirova and Zvonimirova are two-way east-west streets, Savska and Heinzelova two-way north-south streets, and Draškovićeva is one-way northbound.¹⁵

Glavni kolodvor, the main station at Trg kralja Tomislava 12, is in the August Šenoa local committee.^16,3 Zagreb's city-suburban trains run through it on the Harmica – Savski Marof – Zagreb GK – Dugo Selo line.¹⁷ According to HŽ Infrastruktura, the station building is the largest in Croatia and a protected cultural property.^19,21

Bus 118 to Voltino starts at Trg Mažuranića, in the Mimara local committee, according to ZET's route plan of 3 November 2025.^18,3

Office, health, police and libraries in Donji grad

Being built in Donji grad

• Glavni kolodvor: in September 2025 HŽ Infrastruktura signed a €330,000 contract (excluding VAT) for the technical documentation of a full renovation of the building, with a 24-month deadline.^20,21 According to HŽ, quoted on 13 October 2026, the documentation should be ready by the end of 2027, works would then take about three years, and completion is expected in 2031.²²
• Kino Europa, Varšavska 3: according to the City, on 5 November 2026 the renovation was on schedule. The works cost €11.6 million including VAT, €6 million of it from EU funds, with completion expected at the end of 2027 and reopening during 2028.⁴¹
• School of Applied Arts and Design (ŠPUD): on 6 October 2026 the City announced that work had begun on the full renovation of the main building, worth €17.4 million including VAT. Meanwhile theory classes are held at IV. gimnazija and practical classes in adapted workshops at the Zagreb Fair.⁴³
• Masarykova and Teslina: on 22 September 2026 the City Planning Institute published a concept design for a pedestrian zone in Masarykova east of Gundulićeva, Teslina and parts of Preradovićeva and Gajeva, with traffic calming in Masarykova up to Trg Republike Hrvatske. New rows of trees are planned, a double row in Gajeva. It is a concept design, and works have not started.⁴²

Did you know?

• 1According to the City's 2019 analysis, Donji grad has more health institutions than any other city district, 30 of them, and 61 cultural institutions.⁴
• 2Only the odd house numbers 1 to 119 of Ilica belong to the district, and of Trg bana Jelačića only numbers 12 to 14 and 13 to 15/3. The rest of the square belongs to Gornji grad – Medveščak.³
• 3Police areas do not follow the district border: under the 2022 regulation, the I., II. and V. police stations share its local committees.³¹

Renting in Donji grad

Nearby districts

• Upper Town – MedveščakDistrict guide
• MaksimirDistrict guide
• Peščenica – ŽitnjakDistrict guide
• Trešnjevka – NorthDistrict guide
• TrnjeDistrict guide

• Compare districts: Lower Town and Upper Town – Medveščak
• Compare districts: Lower Town and Maksimir
• Compare districts: Lower Town and Peščenica – Žitnjak
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

For listings across the district, see flats for rent in the Lower Town. To compare the neighbours, read what living in Upper Town – Medveščak is like and the Maksimir district guide.

Questions: living in Donji grad