PeščenicaFrom a planned villa quarter to a neighbourhood of new blocks

Peščenica at a glance

• To the main square by ZET18 min
• To the centre as the crow flies2.4 km
• Residents (2021)^3,48,706
• Stara Peščenica⁵inter-war suburb

Where Peščenica is

In everyday speech Peščenica mostly means Stara Peščenica (Old Peščenica), which the City describes as bounded by Zvonimirova, Heinzelova and Nova Branimirova.¹ Officially it is part of the Peščenica – Žitnjak city district, and this guide covers two of its 16 local committees (mjesni odbori): Peščenica, north of Branimirova, and Donje Svetice, south of it down to Ulica grada Vukovara.^2,3,4 Both are part of the settlement of Zagreb.²

The official boundaries don't follow the streets exactly. The northern ends of Kušlanova and Harambašićeva, and numbers 103–137 on Zvonimirova, belong to the Ružmarinka committee in the Maksimir district.² To the east Donje Svetice reaches Borongajska cesta and Ulica Lucijana Vranjanina, then runs down Planinska and Ivanićgradska to Ulica grada Vukovara.² The market, the library and the KNAP culture centre are in nearby Volovčica, and the old city slaughterhouse is across Heinzelova in Trnje.^27,9,8,19

For and against: life in Peščenica

What life is like in Peščenica

Stara Peščenica is one of the Zagreb suburbs built between the two world wars, and the city gradually absorbed it into its central area.⁵ Donje Svetice, south of Branimirova, grew as an urban settlement mostly after the Second World War.¹ In 1959–60 the building firm Jugomont used its Ju-59 prefab system for flats on Kušlanova, among other places.¹¹

According to the district history the City publishes, the post-war Peščenica estates housed mostly workers at INA's plants and nearby factories, who came from all over Croatia and Yugoslavia.¹ The KNAP culture centre says it grew up together with "the working-class, industrial part of Zagreb".¹⁸

A sociological study prepared for the City in 2021 notes that the old working-class fringe and unplanned houses of Stara Peščenica have largely been replaced by office, hotel and residential buildings.²⁰ According to Jutarnji list in August 2026, the change began around Bužanova, Heinzelova and Darwinova and is spreading through Donje Svetice towards Borongajska cesta. A location permit had then been issued for a Školska knjiga complex with 96 flats, offices and 377 parking spaces on the former Mladost site on Borongajska cesta; it still needed a building permit.⁴⁰

Streets in the Peščenica committee area include Bužanova, Njegoševa, Štrigina, Galovićeva, Vukelićeva and Kozarčaninova, and Stara Peščenica II, IV and V; Donje Svetice's include Planinska, Dugoselska, Lupoglavska, Ulica Lucijana Vranjanina and Stara Peščenica I.² The Ministry of Science, Education and Youth has its seat at Donje Svetice 38.²³

Peščenica (Stara Peščenica)

The local committee north of Branimirova, 50.33 ha. It is based at Njegoševa 10 and had 5,684 residents at the 2021 census.^2,3

Donje Svetice

The local committee south of Branimirova down to Ulica grada Vukovara, 80.85 ha. It is based at Kriška 20 and had 3,022 residents at the 2021 census.^2,4

Where the name Peščenica comes from

The name comes from sand (pijesak). In Vijenac, the Matica hrvatska magazine, the linguist Nives Opačić writes that Zagreb's Peščenica was named after sand, and the Croatian Language Portal points from Peščenica to the word pijesak.^6,7

The City lists both spellings, Peščenica and Pešćenica, as interchangeable variants.¹ The short form is Pešča: KNAP runs Dani kulture na Pešči (Peščenica culture days) and Pešča chillout, and the library takes part in Dani Pešče.^8,9

A short history of Peščenica

In 1866 the area of today's district had none of its present urban settlements except Vukomerec, only meadows and fields with a few villages; Žitnjak had 10 houses and 177 people.¹ On 28 December 1892 the City Assembly decided to build a drainage canal from the main railway station to the Sava near Žitnjak, and because of it, in 1900, under Mayor Adolf Mošinsky, the city annexed Žitnjak and Laščina. Since then almost all of today's district has been part of Zagreb.¹

In 1913 Mayor Janko Holjac planned a quarter of villas east of Laščinčak as far as Borongajska, realised after the First World War.¹ Trams began running along Zvonimirova in 1935 and along Vukovarska in 1949.¹⁰ In 1934 the city decided to build a new school on Kušlanova, and III. gimnazija moved in on 22 September 1937. From 1941 to 1945 the building housed the headquarters of the German air force, the Luftwaffe, and pupils and teachers moved from one building to another around the city.^15,14

In the late 1940s parts of Peščenica belonged to the city's Maksimir and Trnje rajoni, and in 1953 Peščenica became one of eight city municipalities. That municipality, much larger than today's neighbourhood, was abolished on 31 December 1990, like Zagreb's other municipalities.¹ On 31 August 1956 the new primary school on Kušlanova held its first staff meeting; that year it had 1,327 pupils in 31 classes, taught in three shifts.¹⁴

Nives Opačić recalls that in the late 1950s the railway on Heinzelova had not yet been raised, so the level-crossing barrier was often down, and she would climb over goods wagons on Harambašićeva.⁶ In 1963 the tram line was extended from Harambašićeva to Borongaj.¹² In the Sava flood of 25–26 October 1964 the water reached family houses in Peščenica, as in other parts of the city.¹³ The Peščenica and Donje Svetice local committees were set up in February 2009.^1,2

1. 1913Mayor Janko Holjac plans a quarter of villas in Peščenica.¹
2. 1935Trams start running along Zvonimirova.¹⁰
3. 1937III. gimnazija moves into the new school building on Kušlanova.¹⁵
4. 1941–1945The Luftwaffe has its headquarters in the Kušlanova school.^15,14
5. 1953Peščenica becomes one of eight city municipalities.¹
6. 1954According to Zagreb City Libraries, a library opens on the corner of Bužanova and Šulekova, the forerunner of today's S. S. Kranjčević library in Volovčica.¹⁶
7. 1956The primary school on Kušlanova starts in the gymnasium's building, with 1,327 pupils in three shifts.¹⁴
8. 1959–1960Jugomont builds flats on Kušlanova with its Ju-59 system.¹¹
9. 1963The tram line is extended from Harambašićeva to Borongaj.¹²
10. 1964The Sava flood reaches family houses in Peščenica.¹³
11. 1981The Peščenica care home for older people is founded.²⁴
12. 2009The Peščenica and Donje Svetice local committees are set up.^1,2
13. 2020Earthquakes damage three buildings of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.²¹
14. 2026The City puts the new OŠ Dragutina Kušlana building out to tender.^38,39

What to see in Peščenica

• The school building at Kušlanova 52

  Built in the mid-1930s to designs by Egon Steinmann, it is shared by III. gimnazija and OŠ Dragutina Kušlana, which has been a subtenant there since 1956.^14,15 Both schools describe it as protected inter-war school architecture, and the gymnasium quotes Steinmann on a school "obasuta suncem i prirodom" ("bathed in sun and nature").^14,15

• Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

  A pavilion complex by the architect Zvonimir Vrkljan at Heinzelova 55; its first building permit dates from 1938.^21,22 According to the faculty's 2021 documents, the whole complex is a registered cultural good, and the 2020 earthquakes damaged three of its buildings, which the faculty plans to renovate in full.²¹

• The trees of Harambašićeva and Galovićeva

  The 2006 Svetice urban plan protects the rows of trees along Harambašićeva and Galovićeva (numbers 2–6) and the landscaped green around Galovićeva 8, 10 and 12 from any change of use.³⁰

• KNAP (Volovčica)

  At Ivanićgradska 41a in nearby Volovčica. It began on 8 May 1955 as a Dom kulture (culture house) and was greatly extended between 1967 and 1976.¹⁸ It has a theatre, the Galerija Događanja gallery, founded in 1981, and concerts.^8,18

• Galerija Prozori (Volovčica)

  After six moves the S. S. Kranjčević library settled at Zapoljska 1 in 1978, and that year Galerija Prozori (the Windows Gallery) opened in its 30-metre row of windows, aimed at locals and passers-by.^16,17

• The old slaughterhouse (Trnje)

  Across Heinzelova, in the Trnje district, stands the former city slaughterhouse and livestock market, later Zagrepčanka, designed by the Berlin architect Walter Frese.^19,20 It is a protected cultural good, and a 2021 City study calls its eight-storey water tower the first modern high-rise.^19,20

Did you know?

• 1Željko Malnar was president of the self-proclaimed parody state the Republic of Peščenica. According to a 2013 Jutarnji list report, it was founded in the Hampi café.^31,33,35,34
• 2Malnar lived at number 56 on Stara Peščenica I. A plan to name the southern part of the street after him had still not been carried out in July 2026.³¹
• 3Zvonimir Levačić Ševa, the parody state's defence minister and a star of the TV show Noćna mora, lived in Peščenica and grew up on the same street as Malnar.^32,33
• 4The S. S. Kranjčević library, now in Volovčica, says in its history that it started in 1954 in 20 m² with 200 books and that its first employee was Zlatko Crnković, later a writer, translator and editor.¹⁶
• 5III. gimnazija's history titles the chapter on building the Kušlanova school "Škola na rubu grada", the school on the edge of the city.¹⁵

Everyday life in Peščenica

Renting in Peščenica

Nearby neighbourhoods

• KvatrićNeighbourhood guide
• MaksimirNeighbourhood guide
• KanalNeighbourhood guide
• VolovčicaNeighbourhood guide
• SigečicaNeighbourhood guide
• FerenščicaNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Peščenica – Žitnjak and Donja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Peščenica – Žitnjak and Lower Town
• Compare districts: Peščenica – Žitnjak and Maksimir
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Peščenica