KnežijaA 1960s estate, a Salesian church and the old village of Horvati

Knežija at a glance

• To the main square by ZET31 min
• To the centre as the crow flies3.2 km
• MO Knežija residents (2021)³9,877
• Mostly built^25,261960s–1970s

Where Knežija is

Knežija is in the south of Trešnjevka, between Zagrebačka avenija to the north, Selska cesta and Jarunska ulica to the west and the railway to the east, and it reaches the Sava in the south-east.^4,8,23 Officially it is in the city district of Trešnjevka – jug and is covered by MO Knežija, one of the district's six local committees (mjesni odbori), set up in February 2009.^3,4,2 Neighbourhoods have no official boundaries, so this guide describes Knežija through that committee. Nor is Knežija a separate settlement: it is part of the settlement of Zagreb.⁴

By our reading of the committee's official boundary, it also takes in the old core of Horvati along the eastern part of Horvaćanska cesta, near Savska, with the Horvati primary school and the site of the former Vila Kiseljak.^4,8 The "Stjepan Radić" student village, Mladost and the Faculty of Kinesiology are on the other side of Jarunska ulica, in the neighbouring Horvati – Srednjaci committee. That too is our reading of the boundary, not an official division.⁴

For and against: life in Knežija

What life is like in Knežija

Knežija is a planned estate, built systematically from the second half of the 1960s to about the mid-1970s.^25,26 According to a 2020 statement by five professional associations, its free-standing blocks of flats form quiet neighbourhoods, and its public green spaces give the estate much of its quality.²⁶

Writing on the Lupiga portal in 2020, the architect Nikša Božić described blocks of four to nine storeys, a park in the middle of the estate and small parks with playgrounds between the blocks. The main street, Ujevićeva, is lined with plane trees. Along with the flats came a primary school, a nursery, a clinic, shops on the ground floors of the central blocks and a small department store.²⁵ Newer buildings, Božić writes, have mostly gone up on the edges: complexes by Horvaćanska in the south, flats in Zadarska and in Kalinovica, and a shopping centre on the western edge by Selska.²⁵ According to Večernji list, in October 2025 residents of Zadarska 57 opposed a private investor's plan for a seven-storey block with 56 flats, which was then only seeking a location permit.³¹

Only a few houses survive from old Knežija.^23,20 Of the village street of Kalinovica only a short stub near Nova cesta remains, but part of the estate still carries its name.^8,49 Parts of Knežija and Kalinovica are on the district heatingDistrict heating (centralno grijanje)Heating from a plant that supplies many buildings through a heat network. In Zagreb HEP Toplinarstvo sends the bill, and the cost is split among the building's flats.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary network of HEP-Toplinarstvo.⁴⁹

At the 2021 census MO Knežija had 9,877 residents on 81.75 hectares. In 2011 it had 10,484, and 6,397 dwellings.^3,5 Božić wrote in 2020 that Knežija had become part of the wider city centre and so an even more popular place to live.²⁵ In 2024 Jutarnji list described it as quiet for traffic, close to Jarun and the city centre, and within the tram zone.³⁷

Horvati

The old core along the eastern part of Horvaćanska cesta, near Savska, with the Horvati primary school. Today the name mostly means the southern strip along Horvaćanska.⁸

Kalinovica

The name of an old village street, of which a stub near Nova cesta remains. Part of the estate is called that too.^8,49

Stara Knežija

An official street name, and OpenStreetMap's label for this part of the neighbourhood.⁷

Where the name Knežija comes from

According to the linguist Petar Skok (1934), the name comes from the knez, an official of the old city of Zagreb: Knežija was land that belonged to the city's knez, or a village that paid him a levy.¹ The earliest record Skok cites is from 1535, a public meadow "ad Knesyam". In medieval records, for example in 1494, the word knesya was also the name of a city tax.¹ Skok pairs Knežija with Kustošija, land that belonged to the custos, one of the canons, or paid him a levy.¹

The old village here was called Horvati. According to the history published by OŠ Josipa Račića, the name comes from a Hungarian form of the word for "Croat".¹¹ According to the Mapiranje Trešnjevke project, the new estate of the 1960s took the name Knežija, and the name Horvati slowly faded.⁸ In Croatian you live "na Knežiji", on Knežija.^3,33

A short history of Knežija

According to the district's official history, the oldest traces are graves of the Urnfield culture from the 11th century BC, found in the Horvati area.² According to the history of OŠ Josipa Račića, the village of Horvati was first recorded in 1615, with 26 serf families.¹¹ In 1783 a wooden bridge was built where Savski most stands today.² Selska cesta was built from Ilica towards Horvati in 1878, and from September 1891 a horse tram ran to Savski most.^11,45,44

Children from Savska cesta and Horvati walked to the school on Samostanska, today Varšavska ulica, until the Horvati school was ceremonially opened on 12 September 1897.^12,13

In 1926 Franjo Ledić built a film 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 on Horvaćanska cesta, "Zagreb's Hollywood".^19,21 In 1928 Marija Weble Valenčić gave the Salesians 7,959 m² of land in Knežija, then on the far edge of the city, for a youth centre.^16,18 The parish of Mary Help of Christians was founded on 1 March 1937.¹⁷ The Knežija school, today OŠ Matije Gupca, opened on 28 January 1940 with 14 classes and 675 pupils.^14,15

The motorway that is now Zagrebačka avenija cut Knežija off from Stara Trešnjevka. Mapiranje Trešnjevke dates it to the late 1940s, the Zagreb City Museum exhibition to 1956.^8,24 According to the museum's historian Kristian Strukić, in 1959 residents came home on tram 14 and walked under the railway underpass to the estate's two main streets, Knežija and Kalinovica.²³ The Sava flood of 25–26 October 1964 damaged 8,254 households in Trešnjevka. In Knežija water filled every room of the school, and in Horvati it stood up to two metres deep.^2,15,11 Most of the damaged single-storey houses were demolished over the next few years, and blocks of flats went up in their place.^23,15 According to the museum exhibition, Knežija and Srednjaci, built in 1965, are the oldest estates south of the avenue.²⁴ A judgment of the Commercial Court in Zagreb records a loan agreement of 28 April 1965 for flats in the Knežija estate, signed with the Sarajevo builder GP Vranica.²⁸

In 2020 the City issued a location permit for an eight-storey block of about 60 flats on the small park on Ulica Davorina Bazjanca. Five professional associations opposed it, and the "Knežija brani park" (Knežija defends the park) initiative collected 4,216 signatures, 2,681 of them from Knežija residents.^25,26,27 On 25 April 2024 the City Assembly declared the park public property in general use, inalienably owned by the City.³⁰

Building of the new Horvati school, with 17 classrooms for about 400 pupils and two sports halls, began on 10 January 2025.³² Pupils did not move in on the first day of school in September 2026.³⁴ According to tportal, on 15 October 2026 the building was practically finished but not equipped, and the construction contract had grown from €12.89 million to €15 million including VAT. The same report says the old building is to be demolished after the move, for the planned extension of Šarengradska ulica from Zagrebačka avenija towards Jadranski most.^35,34

1. 1535According to Petar Skok, the first record of the name: a public meadow "ad Knesyam".¹
2. 1615According to the history of OŠ Josipa Račića, Horvati is first recorded, with 26 serf families.¹¹
3. 1891From the first day of Zagreb's network, the horse tram runs to Savski most.^45,44
4. 1897The Horvati school opens; it still works in the same building.^13,11,35
5. 1926Franjo Ledić builds a film studio on Horvaćanska cesta, "Zagreb's Hollywood".^19,21
6. 1937The parish of Mary Help of Christians is founded and entrusted to the Salesians.^17,16
7. 1940The Knežija school, now OŠ Matije Gupca, opens with 675 pupils.^14,15
8. 1948The parish church, built from 1942 to 1944, is blessed.^17,16
9. 1964The Sava floods; water fills every room of the Knežija school.^2,15
10. 1965According to the Zagreb City Museum, Knežija and Srednjaci are the first estates built south of the avenue.²⁴
11. 1985Knjižnica Knežija, the library, opens.³⁸
12. 1987The tram line is extended from Savski most to Jarun.⁴⁴
13. 2024The park on Ulica Davorina Bazjanca becomes inalienable city property.³⁰
14. 2025Building of the new Horvati school begins.³²

What to see in Knežija

• Church of Mary Help of Christians

  At Omiška 10, next to the Salesian house. It was built from 1942 to 1944 to a design by Zvonimir Požgaj and blessed in 1948.^17,16,18 The bronze statues by Stanko Gašparec on the front went up in 1960. The church was renovated from 1973 to 1978, with a large mosaic of Don Bosco by the sculptor Ante Starčević in the sanctuary, and Archbishop Franjo Kuharić consecrated it in 1978.^16,17,18 The earthquake of 22 March 2020 badly damaged the church and its bell tower; according to the archdiocese, restoration is under way.¹⁷

• The Salesian centre

  Building of the youth home on the donated land began on 30 June 1929, and a chapel opened in the unfinished building that Christmas.^18,16 According to the Catholic news agency IKA, the Salesians made it a "Croatian Valdocco", after Don Bosco's first oratory in Turin.¹⁸

• OŠ Horvati

  At Horvaćanska 6, in the building opened in 1897.^6,13 According to the Mapiranje Trešnjevke project, it was called OŠ "Braća Ribar" from 1960 to 1992 and has been named Horvati again since 1992. When it opened it had two classrooms for 60 children each.^10,11

• The site of "Zagreb's Hollywood"

  Horvaćanska cesta 32. The main building of Ledić's studio, designed in the spirit of the Secession, also served as a film set.²¹ Ledić soon gave up the business; Franjo Kiseljak bought the property and made it his villa, which gave the place the name Vila Kiseljak. From 2002 to 2008 its buildings housed a squat.^9,22 The main building was entered in the register of cultural heritage in 2008.^21,22 It was demolished in 2021 according to Wikipedia, or in 2022 according to the Mapiranje Trešnjevke project, and is to be rebuilt as part of the new Horvati school.^22,9,34

• The park at Ulica Davorina Bazjanca 1

  A small park by the school and the church, where an eight-storey block was given a permit in 2020. Since 2024 it has been inalienable city property, and the amendments to the city plan (GUP) accepted a request to rezone the site as a park.^25,30,29

• The aromatic park

  On Poljana Dragutina Kalea: 900 m², opened at the end of 2023 where a basketball court and a playground had turned into bare concrete. According to Glas Trešnjevke, the city parks company Zrinjevac designed it and looks after it, and anyone may pick and plant lavender, rosemary or basil.⁴⁷

• Savski most

  According to Wikipedia, the bridge was built in 1938 on the piers of the older "Red" bridge and is now open only to pedestrians and cyclists.⁴⁶

Did you know?

• 1In Ledić's unfinished film "Ciganska krv" (Gypsy Blood), the hero escapes the gendarmes by leaping off Savski most, Juraj Kukoč writes in Glas Trešnjevke.²⁰
• 2When it opened in 1940, the Knežija school had hot water and showers. Most homes in Trešnjevka had no running water, so many pupils washed at school. Old photographs also show an outdoor pool.¹⁵
• 3The Salesian church's tower, built in 1964, is ten metres lower than the 46 metres first designed, but it was built with room for seven rooms inside.¹⁶
• 4According to the parish's history, its choir sang for Pope John Paul II in the Paul VI hall in the Vatican in 1993, before 14,000 people.¹⁶

Everyday life in Knežija

Renting in Knežija

Nearby neighbourhoods

• HorvatiNeighbourhood guide
• SrednjaciNeighbourhood guide
• RemizaNeighbourhood guide
• GrediceNeighbourhood guide
• TrešnjevkaNeighbourhood guide
• Cvjetno naseljeNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Trešnjevka – South and New Zagreb – West
• Compare districts: Trešnjevka – South and Stenjevec
• Compare districts: Trešnjevka – South and Trešnjevka – North
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Knežija