Lower TownA grid of 19th-century blocks and the Green Horseshoe

Lower Town at a glance

• To the main square by ZET7 min
• To the centre as the crow flies0.5 km
• Residents (2021)³31,209
• People per km² (2021)²10,334

Where Lower Town is

Donji grad, the Lower Town, is the name of both the neighbourhood and the city district. The district runs from Kvaternikov trg and Heinzelova ulica in the east to Ulica Republike Austrije in the west, and from Ilica, Trg bana Jelačića (the main square), Jurišićeva and Vlaška in the north to the railway line in the south.^1,4 The district covers 301.64 ha and has 14 local committees (mjesni odbori), of which Kralj Zvonimir has the most residents (5,118 at the 2021 census).^3,5,6 The neighbourhood has no official boundary, so this guide follows the district's, which covers part of the settlement of Zagreb and was never a separate settlement.⁴

Of the main square, only the south side, numbers 12 to 15, belongs to Donji grad. The north side of the square, Dolac market and Kaptol are officially part of the Gornji grad – Medveščak district.^4,7 The neighbouring districts are Gornji grad – Medveščak to the north, Maksimir and Peščenica – Žitnjak to the east, Trnje to the south, and Trešnjevka – sjever and Črnomerec to the west.¹ A 2024 proposal to merge the Cvjetni trg and Zrinjevac committees, and Kralj Zvonimir with Petar Krešimir IV., has not taken effect: the City still lists all 14 committees, whose councils were constituted in June 2025.^8,5,6

For and against: life in Donji grad

What life is like in Donji grad

Most of Donji grad was built in the 19th century; the part east of Draškovićeva went up mainly in the first half of the 20th.³² The building code of 1857 announced planned construction. The first regulatory plan, in 1865, drew future streets and squares as a regular grid between Savska and Petrinjska, from Ilica and Vlaška down to a park planned beside the railway.^33,28 The whole Lower Town is a protected historic urban unit.³⁴

According to the City's history of the district, planned building brought two- and three-storey houses by leading builders such as Bollé, Felbinger and Klein. Something new was the purpose-built rental block for the families of civil servants and workers moving to town, among them two blocks for railway workers at Palmotićeva 35 and 37.³⁵

A study of Blok 19, between Ilica, Frankopanska, Dalmatinska and Medulićeva, by the Institute of Art History shows what these blocks were like inside. In the grandest houses of the late 1880s each floor held one large flat of four to seven rooms, with a bathroom, while the smallest flats in the block had two rooms. The courtyards on the Ilica and Frankopanska sides were working yards, with workshops and business buildings. In 2012 a former courtyard building at Frankopanska 12 became a design studioStudio flat (garsonijera)A flat where living, sleeping and cooking share one room, with a separate bathroom. Often spelled garsonjera.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary of the Faculty of Architecture, and the courtyard a public passage.³⁴

At the 2011 census the district had 16,425 occupied flats. Three-room flats were the most common (32.6%), then two-room flatsTwo-room flat (dvosoban stan)A flat with two rooms, usually a living room and one bedroom. In Croatian listings the room count isn't the number of bedrooms.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (30.9%), and the average occupied flat measured 72.15 m². Two-thirds of households (66.7%) had one or two members. 1,809 flats were used only for business and 16 were let to tourists, though that census came before the short-term lettingShort-term letting (kratkoročni najam)simplifiedLetting a flat or part of one as temporary accommodation for less than 30 days, for example to tourists. In a block of flats it needs the co-owners' written consent.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 4., 34. i 58., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary boom.¹ The June 2024 draft amendments to the city's General Urban Plan say a growing number of flats is going into short-term letting, and that the earlier mainly-business zoning of the centre held housing back. The draft adds a centre zone, M0, meant to encourage housing.³⁶

The district has Zagreb's oldest population, with an average age of 48.1 at the 2021 census.^13,37

In 2026 the state co-finances a third of the cost of fitting a lift in an existing building, and according to the minutes of the City's economic and social council from September 2025, the City of Zagreb planned to pay another third. The co-financing is not specific to Donji grad.^38,39

Blok Badel, between Vlaška, Kvaternikov trg, Šubićeva, Martićeva and Derenčinova, is an old industrial site from the late 19th century and the only unfinished block in this part of town. None of the designs from competitions held since the 1980s was built. A 2023 urban plan foresees public, housing, retail and business uses on a narrower area of about 2 ha, keeping the protected factory buildings.^40,28

Where the name Lower Town comes from

The name is topographic. Descriptions from the 17th century and documents from the 19th call the large, mostly agricultural lowland below the two medieval hilltop settlements, Gradec and Kaptol, the Lower Town.^28,41 The name first appears on a map in 1854, on the Specijalka of Zagreb.⁴¹

According to the City, for centuries this was only a suburb below the walls of royal Gradec. It was first called Nova Ves and from the 15th century Lončarska ulica (Potters' Street) or Ilica, and was mostly vineyards and fields worked by serfs. Today's Trg bana Jelačića was the main square, Harmica, named after the customs post that collected the thirtieth (tridesetnica) there; the name comes from the Hungarian harminc, thirty.³⁵

A short history of Lower Town

A parish chapel of St Margaret is recorded as early as 1334 on the site of today's Orthodox church of the Transfiguration by Cvjetni trg.^35,41 From the mid-18th century, according to the City, the population grew and building sped up, until the Lower Town had more houses than the old town on the hill. In 1797 the state-run Zagrebačka svilara, a silk manufactory, was built at today's corner of Preradovićeva and Hebrangova.³⁵

The administrative union of Gradec, Kaptol and their suburbs in 1850 and the railway through Zagreb in 1862 set the frame for a planned Lower Town.^28,41 The strong earthquake of 1880 sped up building, and a new regulatory plan followed in 1887.^33,42 The city engineer Milan Lenuci tied the squares and parks into one composition, the Green Horseshoe.¹² Ferenc Pfaff's main railway station opened in 1892, and the Croatian National Theatre building on 14 October 1895, in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I.^42,11,43

By the end of the First World War, according to the City, Zagreb had about 100,000 people, and the Lower Town was spreading east along Zvonimirova. The Stock Exchange palace and the Meštrović Pavilion went up there.³⁵ Viktor Kovačić designed the palace (1923–1927), which now houses the Croatian National Bank.⁴² The synagogue in Praška ulica, consecrated in 1867, was demolished in 1941 and 1942.⁴⁴ The Ustaša regime turned the Meštrović Pavilion into a mosque, opened on 18 July 1944; its three minarets were pulled down in 1949.³⁰

From 1953, according to the City, the area was split between the municipalities of Donji grad and Medveščak, and later lay mostly in the municipality of Centar, until municipalities were abolished on 31 December 1990.³⁵ According to the Klasična gimnazija, its building on Križanićeva was hit during lessons in the rocket attack on Zagreb on 2 May 1995.⁴⁵ On 26 February 2009 the City Assembly fixed the boundaries of today's district and founded its 14 local committees.^4,7

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake centred on Markuševec struck Zagreb on 22 March 2020.⁴² According to City figures, Donji grad accounted for 20.4% of all temporarily unusable ratings in Zagreb, more than any other district.²⁷ OŠ Petra Zrinskog, whose building at Krajiška 9 was declared unusable, returned to its renovated building on 9 January 2023, after almost three years of lessons at five other sites.⁴⁶ According to Radio Sljeme, in May 2026 a plan for the block by Praška went to the City Assembly; at Praška 7, where the old synagogue stood, it allows a new synagogue (not a replica of the old one) and a cultural centre.⁴⁷

1. 1334A parish chapel of St Margaret is recorded near today's Cvjetni trg.^35,41
2. 1797Zagrebačka svilara, a silk manufactory, is built at today's corner of Preradovićeva and Hebrangova.³⁵
3. 1854The name Donji grad first appears on a map, the Specijalka of Zagreb.⁴¹
4. 1865The first regulatory plan lays out streets and squares as a regular grid.^33,28
5. 1873Zrinjevac, where the Green Horseshoe begins, opens to the public.¹²
6. 1891Zagreb's first horse tram sets off on 5 September.^48,49
7. 1895The Croatian National Theatre building opens.⁴³
8. 1910The electric tram starts on 18 August.^48,49,50
9. 1938Park kralja Petra Krešimira IV. opens, and the Meštrović Pavilion holds its first exhibition.^51,30
10. 1941–1942The synagogue in Praška ulica is demolished.⁴⁴
11. 1973A pedestrian underpass opens under the railway by Trg kralja Tomislava.⁵²
12. 2009The City Assembly fixes the district's boundaries and founds its 14 local committees.^4,7
13. 2015Teaching begins in the new Music Academy building by the architect Milan Šosterič.⁵³
14. 2020The earthquake of 22 March and the flash flood of 25 July.^42,29

What to see in Donji grad

• The Green Horseshoe

  Zrinjevac, Strossmayerov and Tomislavov trg on the east side, Starčevićev trg and the Botanical Garden on the south, and Marulićev trg, Mažuranićev trg and Trg Republike Hrvatske (Trg maršala Tita until 2017) on the west.^12,55 The city engineer Milan Lenuci tied them into one composition.¹² Professor Antun Heinz founded the Botanical Garden in 1889, and the first planting was in 1892.^54,42

• Croatian National Theatre

  The building by Fellner and Helmer opened on 14 October 1895.⁴³ Since the 1967–1969 reconstruction an underground corridor beneath Hebrangova has linked the theatre with the west wing of the Kolo building, which was put up for the theatre while the HNK was being built.⁵⁶

• Felbinger house

  The builder Bartol Felbinger's house at Trg bana Jelačića 15 is, according to the City, the oldest surviving building in the Lower Town.³⁵

• St Blaise's church

  Viktor Kovačić's church on a Greek-cross plan was finished in 1915.⁵⁷ The parish and the Tourist Board call its reinforced-concrete dome the first of its kind in Croatia, and its nativity scene by Vojta Braniš dates from 1916.^57,58

• Oktogon

  A covered passage at Ilica 5 links Ilica with Cvjetni trg. It runs through the former Prva hrvatska štedionica savings bank building by Josip pl. Vancaš, under an octagonal stained-glass dome. Croatian Wikipedia calls it Zagreb's first covered pedestrian passage.^59,60

• Viktor Kovačić's flat

  Instead of a fee for designing the rental house at Masarykova 21–23, Kovačić was allowed to fit out his own flat in the attic. The flat of about 95 m² survives intact; his widow Terezija gave it to the city in 1953. It is now a Zagreb City Museum collection, temporarily closed because of earthquake damage.⁶¹

• Meštrović Pavilion

  It has been a gallery, a mosque with three minarets (1944), a museum of the revolution (1955–1990) and a gallery again; during the 2002 restoration a mihrab from the mosque years was found in a wall.³⁰ HDLU began a full and energy renovation to a design by Saša Randić in early 2025, and Infozagreb reported in October 2025 that completion was expected at the end of 2026.^62,30

Did you know?

• 1According to ZET, the first horse tram set off on 5 September 1891 with driver Ferdo, conductor Vid and the horse Belko. The next day, Sunday 6 September, an estimated twenty thousand people rode it, almost half the town.^49,48
• 2Ivan Kožarić's Prizemljeno Sunce (Grounded Sun) first stood outside the HNK and has been in Bogovićeva since 1994. Since 2004 it has been the Sun in Davor Preis's model of the solar system, with steel planets placed around the city at their true relative distances.⁶³
• 3The façade of Kuća Kallina at Gundulićeva 20 (Vjekoslav Bastl, 1903–1904), mostly clad in majolica tiles, also advertised the client's ceramics factory.^64,42
• 4Miroslav Krleža lived from 1922 to 1935 in his aunt's flat at today's Hebrangova 32, and on 1 November 1935 moved to Mihanovićeva 16.^65,66
• 5The streets of the Hrvatski narodni vladari and Knez Mislav committees are named after medieval Croatian rulers: Kneza Mutimira, Kneza Borne, Kneza Mislava, Trpimirova, Domagojeva and Kralja Držislava.⁷

Everyday life in Donji grad

Renting in Donji grad

Nearby neighbourhoods

• ZrinjevacNeighbourhood guide
• KaptolNeighbourhood guide
• RibnjakNeighbourhood guide
• Upper TownNeighbourhood guide
• MartinovkaNeighbourhood guide
• TrnjeNeighbourhood 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

Questions about life in Donji grad