TrnjeFrom the railway and Vukovarska to the Sava embankment, from Savska cesta to Heinzelova

Trnje at a glance

• Residents (2021 Census)³³40,539
• Households renting³⁴9.8%
• Area³⁷7.4 km²
• Neighbourhoods in our guide7
• Local committees³⁸13

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 Trnje is

Trnje district covers part of the settlement of Zagreb between the railway and the Sava.^1,11 In the north the boundary follows the south side of the Zagreb–Ljubljana railway and the north side of Koturaška cesta, with Donji grad beyond the tracks. In the west it follows the east side of Savska cesta and Savski most, and across the road are Trešnjevka – sjever and Trešnjevka – jug (Trešnjevka North and South).^1,11

In the east the boundary follows the west side of Heinzelova from the railway to Slavonska avenija, then the south side of Slavonska to Avenija Marina Držića, and the east side of Držićeva and Most mladosti down to the Sava. Across it lies Peščenica – Žitnjak.^1,11 In the south the boundary runs along the south bank of the Sava, so the river belongs to the district. Across it is Novi Zagreb – zapad (West), from Savski most to Most slobode, and further east Novi Zagreb – istok (East).^1,2 The City describes the district as distinctly flat and today almost entirely highly urbanised.¹¹

Neighbourhoods in Trnje district

• TrnjeThe former village by the Sava, now Staro Trnje and Kruge, with river-named streets and a parish church in the crypt of a Meštrović design.Trnje neighbourhood guide
• MartinovkaThe strip between the railway and Vukovarska, from Savska to Strojarska, with Paromlin, Lisinski, Galić's 1950s blocks and remnants of old workers' houses.Martinovka neighbourhood guide
• Cvjetno naseljeA planned estate of houses for city clerks from 1939, protected as cultural heritage, with Savski kuti and Veslačko naselje by the Sava embankment.Cvjetno naselje neighbourhood guide
• SavicaTrnjanska Savica, apartment blocks and towers with raised pedestrian plazas, built on an old bed of the Sava between Slavonska avenija and the river.Savica neighbourhood guide
• KanalA workers' quarter of low houses by the former city gasworks, turning into a business district along Radnička cesta and the Green Gold complex.Kanal neighbourhood guide
• VrbikThe block between Vukovarska and Slavonska with the 1960s Rakete towers, the post-war Poljane estate and the university avenue of faculties along Ulica Ivana Lučića.Vrbik neighbourhood guide
• SigečicaInterwar family houses and blocks from the 1950s and later decades, with streets named after Adriatic islands, between Vukovarska and Slavonska.Sigečica neighbourhood guide

District council and local committees

Trnje is the third of the 17 city districts set up by the City Statute of 14 December 1999.^3,4 The City Assembly fixed the districts' boundaries and seats in a decision of 26 February 2009; its amendments of 2017 and 2020 left Trnje's boundary unchanged.^1,2 The local committees (mjesni odbori) were founded in February 2009.⁹ The district council has 15 members and was constituted on 24 June 2025; the district's work is governed by its rules of 2022.⁵

The 2009 decision gives the seat as Ulica grada Vukovara 56a.^1,2 The 2025 election instructions place the district seat at Ulica Lavoslava Ružičke 26, south entrance from Kninski trg, and the local committees also take their post at that address.^7,8 From 1945 to 1952 this area was Zagreb's 4th city rajon (ward), and in 1953 the Općina Trnje (municipality) was founded. It was set up again after a period when Zagreb was a single municipality and existed until 1990.^9,4

13 local committees (mjesni odbori) in Trnje: Cvjetnica, Cvjetno naselje, Kanal, Marin Držić, Martinovka, Miramare, Savski kuti, Sigečica, Staro Trnje, Trnjanska Savica, Trnje, Veslačko naselje, Vrbik.³⁸

People in Trnje district

At the 2021 Census, 40,539 people lived in Trnje district in 18,145 households. 1,771 households, or 9.8%, paid a market rent (Zagreb: 7.7%). The average household had 2.2 members.^33,34

The district covers 7.4 km², about 5,508 people per square kilometre (Zagreb average: 1,196).³⁷

Its parts: what is where in Trnje district

Trnje lies on the left, north bank of the Sava, which often flooded it until the embankments were built. That is why the riverside estates, Cvjetno naselje, Savski kuti and Veslačko naselje, were built relatively late, in the middle and second half of the 20th century, and the estate on Trnjanska Savica stands on a former bed and side branches of the river.¹¹ The northern strip, between the railway embankment and Varaždinska cesta, today's Vukovarska, was built up earlier, in the first half of the 20th century.^11,13

Railway workshops, Paromlin (the steam mill), a paper mill, the city gasworks and a tar factory went up along the railway.⁹ The Zagreb City Museum writes of workers' settlements on the southern periphery between the two world wars, and Vijenac of wild, unplanned building.^12,13 The 1936 regulation plan foresaw planned parcelling of the whole area and moving the railway workshops out of town.^13,17 According to the City, the first attempt at legal housing was Cvjetno naselje, begun in 1939 on the land of the old city nursery to designs by Vlado Antolić. Savski kuti and Veslačko naselje were later developed in a similar way.^9,13

After the Second World War Vukovarska became a wide four-lane avenue with the tram down the middle and public buildings along it, but plans from the late 1940s and the 1950s to build a new city centre beside it were never carried out.^13,12 The City now places Trnje's present-day centre around the junction of Vukovarska and Ulica Hrvatske bratske zajednice. Among the district's landmark buildings it lists Zagrepčanka, the Pučko otvoreno učilište (adult education centre), the Croatia osiguranje building, the City Government building (Gradsko poglavarstvo) and Lisinski.¹¹ The three Rakete towers went up on Vrbik in 1965–1968, the Vjesnik tower was finished in 1972 and Zagrepčanka, with 30 floors and 94.6 metres, in 1976. After 2000 came Zagreb Tower on Radnička, Eurotower and VMD.^14,13

The City's 2020 analysis lists Gredelj, Paromlin, Zagrepčanka, Zagrebačka banka in Paromlinska, TEŽ, Jedinstvo and Geofizika among the main former industrial and business sites, earmarked for new mixed, public and business zones. According to the same document, the master plan (GUP) provides for two new road, pedestrian and cycle bridges, at Bundek and on an extension of Cvjetna cesta, and a pedestrian and cycle bridge on an extension of Sveučilišna aleja.¹¹

Gredelj

The state railway's main workshop, south of the railway and east of the Glavni kolodvor, got its building permit in April 1893 and opened after 16 months of construction. From 1954 it was called Tvornica željezničkih vozila Gredelj (Gredelj Railway Vehicle Works), and it left its original site in 2011.¹⁷

Strojarničko naselje

Houses for the workshop's workers and clerks along Trnjanska cesta, built from 1898. The City's Gredelj competition brief calls them the first planned workers' housing estate in Zagreb.^17,13

The coach station and Strojarska

The eastern end of the strip between the railway and Vukovarska, by Držićeva, with apartment blocks, the coach station at Avenija Marina Držića 4 and the VMD business and residential complex on Strojarska cesta.^17,20

Where the name Trnje comes from

The district takes its name from the former village, later a suburb, of Trnje, whose history is told in the guide to the neighbourhood of the same name.¹⁰ In 1930 the area of today's district was made up of the city kotari (wards) of Zavrtnica, Sigečica, Trnje and Vrbik.⁹

Roads, rail and lines in Trnje district

The main east–west roads are Vukovarska and Slavonska avenija, and the main north–south roads Avenija Marina Držića and Ulica Hrvatske bratske zajednice. Savska cesta and Heinzelova form the district's edges.^13,1 A 2013 geographical study of Savica calls Slavonska avenija Zagreb's busiest east–west axis and Držićeva its busiest north–south axis; they meet at a grade-separated interchange.¹⁵ A transport study of December 2017 records the heaviest traffic in the area on Vukovarska, Držićeva and Miramarska.¹⁶ Savski most and Most mladosti lie on the district's western and eastern boundaries, and Most slobode crosses the Sava between them.¹

The railway runs along the northern boundary on an embankment. The Glavni kolodvor station building, at Trg kralja Tomislava 12, is on the other side of the tracks, and south of it, at the exit of the underpass, is ZET's Glavni kolodvor bus terminal.^1,18,17 According to the 2021 Gredelj competition brief, that underpass is the only pedestrian link across the railway on this stretch, and Strojarska cesta is joined to Branimirova by a road underpass.¹⁷ A new Savski most railway stop, with an upgraded interchange and Park & Ride, is still only a plan in the City's report for 2024.³⁰

Autobusni kolodvor Zagreb, the coach station, is at Avenija Marina Držića 4, and the boundary follows the avenue's east side, so the station is inside the district.^20,1 From ZET's Savski most terminal, according to its September 2026 route map, buses run to Brezovica, Stupnik, Lučko and Lukavec.¹⁹

Office, health, police and libraries in Trnje district

Being built in Trnje district

• Work on the Paromlin city library and social and cultural centre, covering almost 36,000 m², began in April 2024, as the City announced.²⁷ According to the City on 24 April 2026, the project, worth almost €100 million, had entered its final phase. Fitting out should finish in spring 2027, and opening to visitors is planned for the second half of 2027.²⁸
• In December 2024 the City put out to tender 3.7 km of tram line from Zvonimirova to the Savišće loop; part of the route runs along Heinzelova on the district's eastern boundary.³⁰ According to Večernji list on 29 July 2026, procurement problems make a start before 2027 unlikely, though the line was originally due to be finished by autumn 2027.³¹
• On 6 May 2026 work began on the north pavement of Vukovarska, from Držićeva to Ulica Hrvatske bratske zajednice, for almost 1,200 metres, to build a separate two-way cycle track 3 metres wide beside a 2.5-metre footway. The works were planned to take four months.³²
• On 20 April 2026 the City presented the Tesarna music centre in a protected building at Gredelj and an intercultural community centre with a gallery and a small hall on the site of the former market in Staro Trnje.²⁹

Did you know?

• 1According to the City's 2020 analysis, Trnje has 20 City-owned sports facilities, as many as Sesvete, the largest district.¹¹
• 2The National and University Library (NSK), Croatia's largest library, has its building in Trnje. Construction began in 1988 and the building was formally opened on 28 May 1995.²⁶
• 3The City's Gredelj competition brief describes the state railway's main workshop as the first planned development south of the railway and a rare surviving complex of its kind in Europe.¹⁷

Renting in Trnje district

Nearby districts

• Lower TownDistrict guide
• New Zagreb – EastDistrict guide
• New Zagreb – WestDistrict guide
• Peščenica – ŽitnjakDistrict guide
• Trešnjevka – SouthDistrict guide
• Trešnjevka – NorthDistrict guide

• Compare districts: Trnje and Lower Town
• Compare districts: Trnje and New Zagreb – East
• Compare districts: Trnje and New Zagreb – West
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

For listings across the district, see flats for rent in Trnje. To compare the neighbours, read the Lower Town district guide and the New Zagreb – East district guide.

Questions: living in Trnje district