LjubljanicaFamily houses, a 1948 school and the trams across the stream

Ljubljanica at a glance

• To the main square by ZET30 min
• To the centre as the crow flies3.8 km
• Residents (2021)²2,916
• Area²31 ha

Where Ljubljanica is

The Trešnjevka Cultural Centre counts Ljubljanica among Trešnjevka's smaller neighbourhoods, with the Črnomerec stream as its eastern edge.¹⁰ Officially it is in the city district of Trešnjevka – sjever and almost exactly matches the Ljubljanica local committee (mjesni odbor), one of ten set up in the district in February 2009.^1,2 The committee's boundary follows the Kustošak stream and Golikova to the west, Baštijanova to the north, Fallerovo šetalište along the stream to the east and the district boundary on Zagrebačka avenija to the south.^3,10 As a neighbourhood, Ljubljanica is an everyday name with no official boundary.

The Ljubljanica terminus, the Remiza depot and Ozaljska ulica 91–105H belong to the neighbouring Pongračevo committee, across the stream.^4,10 So does the Ljubljanica residential tower at Ozaljska 93, designed by Slavko Jelinek. It carries the neighbourhood's name, but the official street list puts it in Pongračevo.^28,4 West across Golikova lies Voltino, which shares a parish with Ljubljanica.¹⁷

For and against: life in Ljubljanica

What life is like in Ljubljanica

The parish that Ljubljanica shares with Voltino tells the two apart by their buildings: Ljubljanica is mostly family houses, Voltino mostly blocks of flats. The Trešnjevka Cultural Centre writes of quiet, narrow streets of family houses.^17,10 At the 2011 census the local committee area had 3,205 residents in 1,292 households and 1,642 dwellings; in 2021 it had 2,916 residents on 31 hectares.^5,2

According to the Mapiranje Trešnjevke project, the area began to urbanise when the tram reached the city boundary and Ljubljanica in the mid-1930s.⁶ The main street is called simply Ljubljanica.⁴ The same source says part of it works as an extension of the tram terminus, carrying passengers home from town or on towards Rudeš and Voltino. With its small houses, shops and cafés, it calls the street a typical suburban centre of a kind Zagreb has fewer and fewer of.⁶

Several streets in the committee area are named after mountains, among them Bilogorska, Dinarska, Fruškogorska, Majevička, Mosorska, Psunjska and Velebitska.⁴ Mapiranje Trešnjevke recorded traces of the older neighbourhood too: a house of the original villagers on Svetoivanska (photographed in 2013), an old inscription on Garićka recalling the May Day celebrations once held there, and the Gigant bicycle repair shop, which had by then been working on Svetoivanska for decades.⁶ At the corner of Ljubljanica and Dinarska it recorded the old Diona shop, then one of the last shops in the city without self-service, with a classic counter.⁶

Where the name Ljubljanica comes from

None of the sources we checked explains the name Ljubljanica, and none links it to Ljubljana or to the Slovenian river of the same name.^6,1,10,17 According to Mapiranje Trešnjevke, old maps show a village on this spot spelled Lublanicza.⁶

Nor does the name come from Ljubljanska cesta, the road to Ljubljana that is now Zagrebačka avenija. That road was built mainly between 1949 and 1953, centuries after the village first appears in the records.^8,7,1

A short history of Ljubljanica

The Črnomerec stream was the boundary between the Gradec and Kaptol estates and Zagreb's western limit, and Ljubljanica lies just west of it.^1,10 The City of Zagreb says the village of Ljubljanica, south of the older settlement of Črnomerec, appears in written records from the mid-18th century, with ten households living from their vineyards.¹ Mapiranje Trešnjevke, drawing on the 1982 monograph Crvena Trešnjevka, cites earlier records: in 1557 Gradec lent its serfs here to Kaptol to work the vineyards on the slopes of Medvednica, in 1606 it lent Ljubljanica to Kaptol for seven years, and in 1615 the village had ten families.⁷

According to Mapiranje Trešnjevke, the village sat at the edge of the city until 1945, separated from it by a toll post.⁶ In the late 1940s Ljubljanica belonged to the municipality of Vrapče and had no water mains or sewers.¹¹ The settlements west of the Črnomerec belonged to the Vrapče municipality and parish until the 1960s, so funerals were held in Gornji Vrapče.⁶ Sewers came in 1954 and mains water in June 1955.¹¹

The school opened in 1948 as VIII. osnovna škola (Eighth Primary School).^12,14 In 1953/54 it had 802 pupils, and on 21 October 1957 it moved into an extension with 13 classrooms for 1,004 pupils.¹¹ In 1962 it was renamed OŠ Sava Kovačević, and the following school year it had 1,433 pupils in 38 classes, taught in four shifts.^11,13 In 1964 a new school in neighbouring Voltino took many of its pupils.¹³ On the night of 25–26 October 1964, during the Sava flood, the school first took in evacuated residents; then the water reached the ground floor and lessons carried on upstairs only.^11,13

With no church nearby, the Catholic community bought an older, larger house at Subotička 15 in the early 1970s and used it as a chapel for Mass and religious classes until 1994.^17,18 The parish of St Leopold Bogdan Mandić was established by decree in 1978 and became fully independent in August 1994.^18,17 The school took back the name Ljubljanica in 1991.^12,13 During the war years the start of the school year was moved from 2 to 9 September, and the school took in pupils displaced from occupied parts of Croatia and refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.^11,13

1. 1557According to a record cited by Mapiranje Trešnjevke, Gradec lends its Ljubljanica serfs to Kaptol to work in the vineyards.⁷
2. 18th c.According to the City of Zagreb, the village of Ljubljanica appears in written records from the middle of the century.¹
3. 1935The tram line through Tratinska and Ozaljska is built. According to Mapiranje Trešnjevke, the tram reaches Ljubljanica in the mid-1930s.^1,6
4. 1946The library now called Knjižnica Ljubljanica is founded.¹⁵
5. 1948The school opens, then called VIII. osnovna škola.^12,14
6. 1954–1955Sewers arrive, followed by mains water in June 1955.¹¹
7. 1964The Sava flood reaches the school's ground floor after the school has taken in evacuated residents.^11,13
8. 1978The parish of St Leopold Mandić is established by decree.¹⁸
9. 1991The school, called OŠ Sava Kovačević since 1962, takes back the name Ljubljanica.^12,13
10. 2007On 2 December Cardinal Josip Bozanić blesses the new church at Golikova 42.^18,17
11. 2018The school gets an asbestos-free roof, an energy-efficient façade and a step-free entrance.^13,14
12. 2024The parish presents Svjetionik milosrđa, a book about Ljubljanica, Voltino and their parish.¹⁹

What to see in Ljubljanica

• OŠ Ljubljanica

  At Svetoivanska 33. The building dates from 1948, and the north wing was added in 1956.^14,11 From early 2018 to that September the school was renovated: the asbestos roof was replaced, the façade was made energy efficient, the entrance became step-free, and the gym and library got new floors.^13,14

• Knjižnica Ljubljanica

  A children's library at Ljubljanica 24, on the corner of Dinarska, a branch of Knjižnice Tina Ujevića.^16,15 In 2025 its 30 m² held 8,463 books and served 1,735 members.¹⁵ The City paid for protective bollards at the crossing in front of it.²³

• Church of St Leopold Bogdan Mandić

  At Golikova 42, designed by the architect Silva Kornhauser, who won the competition in 1998. Building began on 12 May 2002.¹⁸ The eight stained-glass windows are by the painter and parishioner Marijan Jakubin.¹⁷ By the official street list no. 42 is outside the Ljubljanica committee area, which has only Golikova's odd numbers 83–131; the parish serves Ljubljanica and Voltino together.^4,17

• Lazinska park

  A park with a children's playground next to OŠ Ljubljanica; the City's local works programme for 2013–2016 added an outdoor exercise area for adults.²³

Did you know?

• 1The main street has no "ulica" (street) in its name. It is just Ljubljanica, so the library's address, for example, is Ljubljanica 24.^4,16
• 2The school library first appears in the school chronicle in 1958, run by the pupils themselves.¹²
• 3In 1962/63 the school had 1,433 pupils in four shifts; in 2025/26 it has 353 pupils in 18 classes.^13,14
• 4Golikova was once called Drvinje, and before that Kroflinova.^17,18
• 5According to Mapiranje Trešnjevke, Dinarska was once called Ulica Crnković Ruže, after a young woman who supported the Partisans and was hanged in that street during the Second World War.⁶

Everyday life in Ljubljanica

Renting in Ljubljanica

Nearby neighbourhoods

• RemizaNeighbourhood guide
• VoltinoNeighbourhood guide
• StaglišćeNeighbourhood guide
• SrednjaciNeighbourhood guide
• RudešNeighbourhood guide
• HorvatiNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Trešnjevka – North and Črnomerec
• Compare districts: Trešnjevka – North and Lower Town
• Compare districts: Trešnjevka – North and Stenjevec
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Ljubljanica