RemeteAn old Prigorje village around a shrine on the slopes of Medvednica

Remete at a glance

• To the main square by ZET32 min
• To the centre as the crow flies4.4 km
• Committee residents (2021)¹⁸5,923
• Committee area¹⁸295.75 ha

Where Remete is

Remete lies on the slopes of Medvednica, about five kilometres north-east of the centre of Zagreb and close to Mirogoj cemetery.^17,1,3 Officially it is the Remete local committee (mjesni odbor), the tenth of the eleven committees of the Maksimir city district, and the committee is part of the settlement of Zagreb.^18,19 A neighbourhood (kvart) is an everyday name with no official boundary, so this guide describes Remete through that committee.

Under the 2009 decision on local committees, the boundary follows the Maksimir/Remete cadastral line in the south, the border with the Gornji grad – Medveščak district in the west and the border with Podsljeme in the north. In the east it runs down the Bliznec stream and along the forest edge across the Jazbina field.¹⁹ The committee's streets include Česmičkoga, Remete, Vinec, Gospočak, Kratki dol and Pavlinski prilaz, plus the longest, upper stretch of Bukovačka cesta.¹⁹

For and against: life in Remete

What life is like in Remete

Remete is an old Prigorje village that in time became part of Zagreb.^25,22 According to the historian Domagoj Novosel, locals sold land to newcomers as building plots in the 1960s, and the village grew from 990 people in 1953 to 2,882 in 1971.²²

The architecture magazine Oris describes Remete as a former village of mostly family houses that is being urbanised with "urban villas".²⁷ At the 2011 census the committee area had 2,423 dwellings, 2,393 of them for permanent living.²³

According to Novosel, before 1945 the people of Remete were known as florists and grave decorators at Mirogoj, while Šestine people washed laundry and Gračani people made sausages.²² The folk ensemble KUD Frankopan – Remete, founded in 1920, is still active, and the Dani Remeta festival is held on the sports grounds next to OŠ Remete.^33,17,34 In October 2026 Krešimir Čokor of the ensemble told HRT that Remete is "one big dormitory".⁴¹

Where the name Remete comes from

Remete is named after the Pauline monks, an order of hermits.^1,17 The City and Croatian Wikipedia derive the name from the Latin eremita (hermit), while the parish and the Carmelites derive it from eremus (wilderness).^17,3,4,6

According to the Carmelites, the valley was called Krivi dol before the hermits came, and the 1288 charter gave the monastery an estate called Kratki dol on the Bliznec stream.^6,15 Today Kratki dol is a street in the Remete committee.¹⁹ The sources don't say whether Krivi dol and Kratki dol were the same place.

A short history of Remete

By tradition, a chapel of Our Lady stood here as early as 1240, and the Pauline Iskvirin founded the monastery in 1272.^4,1,14 The first written mention of the monastery is a parchment deed of 30 September 1288, in which Miroslav, son of Herčuk, gave it property.^8,6,1 A new church and monastery were built in 1319 with the support of King Charles Robert.^6,14 The elongated sanctuary, the oldest part of the church, dates from that building.⁵

After the Ottomans burned the monastery in 1483 or 1484, King Matthias Corvinus had it walled and a defensive tower built in 1485; the tower and wall were pulled down in the 19th century.^1,6,9,14 The Ottomans burned the monastery again in 1557 and 1591, and in 1591 they hanged twelve Pauline monks on a linden tree near Vugrovec.^1,6,5

Martin Borković, the prior of Remete, began rebuilding in 1646, and Bishop Petar Petretić of Zagreb consecrated the church on 12 April 1654.^5,6,4 Borković was elected bishop of Zagreb in 1667.^4,6 In 1721–1722 the nave was lengthened westwards to the tower and given a Baroque façade with statues in niches, and in 1745 the Pauline painter Ivan Krstitelj Ranger painted the church.^5,11,1

Emperor Joseph II suppressed the Paulines in 1786, and the monks left Remete.^1,6,8 According to the Carmelites, the church then served as a subsidiary church of Markuševec parish until Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac founded Remete parish on 12 October 1812.^5,6 The earthquake of 9 November 1880 badly damaged the church and monastery.^10,11 Part of the monastery was demolished, and in 1882 the church and rectory were restored to designs by Herman Bollé.^10,11 According to the City and Proleksis, the restoration destroyed the graves of the nobles buried in the church: Pavao Zrinski, Ivan Česmički (Janus Pannonius), Ban Ivan Torkvat Karlović and Gašpar Alapić.^17,2

In 1927 the seat of the administrative municipality of Gračani moved to Remete, and in 1937 the municipality was renamed Remete.²¹ The Croatian Encyclopaedia says Remete was a separate settlement until 1948, and the City says the area of the Remete local people's committee joined the city in 1949.^1,17 The Discalced Carmelites came to Remete in 1959 at Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac's invitation, and the parish was entrusted to them in 1963.^6,5

Excavations beside the church from 2007 to 2009 found the foundations of two earlier churches and a cemetery of 128 graves from the 17th and 18th centuries.^8,9 The earthquakes of 22 March and 29 December 2020 badly damaged the church and monastery.^5,4 The last Mass before the restoration was said on 17 January 2022, and in March 2024 the dome went back on the tower, with all five restored bells re-hung.^38,39

1. 1288First written mention of the monastery, in a deed of 30 September.^8,6
2. 1485Matthias Corvinus has a tower and wall built around the monastery.^1,9
3. 1591The Ottomans burn the monastery and hang twelve Paulines near Vugrovec.^1,5
4. 1721–1722The nave is lengthened and gets a Baroque façade.^5,11
5. 1786Emperor Joseph II suppresses the Paulines.^1,6
6. 1812Remete parish is founded.^5,4
7. 1859A village school opens in a room of the former monastery.^20,25
8. 1882The church is restored to designs by Herman Bollé.¹⁰
9. 1948/1949Remete becomes part of the city: in 1948 according to the Croatian Encyclopaedia, in 1949 according to the City.^1,17
10. 1959The Carmelites arrive in Remete.⁶
11. 2007–2009Excavations uncover the foundations of two earlier churches.^8,9
12. 2020Two earthquakes badly damage the church and monastery.⁵

What to see in Remete

• Church of the Assumption and the monastery

  At Česmičkoga 1, a single-nave Gothic Pauline church and a protected cultural property (Z-1316).^11,5 The shrine of Our Lady of Remete bears the title Fidelissima Mater Advocata Croatiae, "Most Faithful Mother, Advocate of Croatia". According to the Carmelites, it gained the title after its 17th-century revival, when the prior of Remete sat in the Croatian Sabor.^6,14,39

• The statue of Our Lady of Remete

  A slim standing Virgin with the Child, carved with the year 1490 and the name of Brother Pavao Poljak. Since 1490 it has stood in a gilded late-Gothic frame with Saints Barbara, Hedwig, Catherine and Agnes.^14,6 It is set into the marble high altar made in 1705–1706 by the Pauline sculptors Toma Jurjević and Pavao Belina.^1,11

• Ranger's medallions

  At the church entrance Ivan Krstitelj Ranger painted 59 medallions of miracles, of which 45 survive. The scenes run from around 1250 to 1747.^13,14

• The pillar and the chapel

  In front of the church stands the pillar of St Simeon Stylites with Bishop Branjug's coat of arms, dated 1739, protected together with a Baroque relief of St Paul the Hermit.^11,12 On the crossroads north of the church is an Art Nouveau chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes from 1908.¹¹

• The old school on Črešnjevec

  The old village school at Črešnjevec 3 is a protected cultural property.²⁴ In October 2026 HRT reported that it is the only public building left in Remete, ruined by fire, earthquake and neglect. The local committee has proposed that its restoration be included in the City's capital projects for 2027.⁴¹

• Summer villas on Bukovačka cesta

  On the upper stretch of Bukovačka cesta, inside the Remete committee, the protected houses include the Tkalčić summer villa (no. 254), the house at no. 267 and the "Veseljak" summer villa (no. 341); the house at Bukovečki krč 6 is protected too.^24,19

• Remete cemetery

  A city cemetery of 0.60 hectares with about 1,000 graves, on its present site since 1812. It serves Remete, Gornji and Donji Bukovac, Bukovac Naselje and Bliznec.²⁸

Did you know?

• 1According to the Zagreb City Museum, an active landslide destroyed two earlier churches on this site within about a hundred years, yet the Paulines stayed.⁸
• 2Ten gold florins were found beside the church. The archaeologists Mašić and Pleše write that they turned up out of their original context and recall Corvinus's help after the Ottoman raid.⁹
• 3The poet and bishop Janus Pannonius (Ivan Česmički) died at Medvedgrad in 1472, and according to the parish he was first buried at Remete. Česmičkoga, the street the church stands on, is named after him.^43,4,5
• 4The Pauline Andrija Eggerer wrote Pharmacopaea coelestis seu Maria Remetensis ("Heavenly pharmacy, or Mary of Remete") while living in the Remete monastery; according to the parish, it was printed in Graz in 1672.^16,4

Everyday life in Remete

Renting in Remete

Nearby neighbourhoods

• GračaniNeighbourhood guide
• MlinoviNeighbourhood guide
• BukovacNeighbourhood guide
• ŠalataNeighbourhood guide
• MedveščakNeighbourhood guide
• ŠestineNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Maksimir and Lower Town
• Compare districts: Maksimir and Gornja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Maksimir and Upper Town – Medveščak
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Remete