RibnjakA park where the bishops' fishponds were, by Kaptol's east walls

Ribnjak at a glance

• To the main square by ZET10 min
• To the centre as the crow flies0.6 km
• Committee residents (2021)³1,104

Where Ribnjak is

Ribnjak lies east of Kaptol. The name belongs to the park along Kaptol's eastern walls and to the street along the park's eastern edge.⁶ Officially it is local committee (mjesni odbor) no. 9, Ribnjak, in the city district of Gornji grad – Medveščak, part of the settlement of Zagreb.^1,3 Neighbourhoods have no official boundaries, so this guide describes Ribnjak through that committee. Besides the park and Ribnjak street, it takes in, among others, Langov trg, Trg svibanjskih žrtava 1995., Rubetićeva, Vončinina, Novakova numbers 1–35 and 8–32, and Vlaška numbers 53–91.^1,2 By our reading of the official map, ŠRC Šalata also lies inside the committee's boundary.^4,1

To the west is the "August Cesarec" committee, with Kaptol and Dolac, to the north-west Nova Ves, to the north Medveščak, to the east Voćarska and to the south-east Petrova, and the Donji grad district begins to the south.^4,2 Novakova, Vončinina, Rubetićeva and Schlosserove stube officially belong to the Ribnjak committee, not to the Šalata committee.^2,1

For and against: life in Ribnjak

What life is like in Ribnjak

The committee area takes in the park, Ribnjak street with its interwar apartment buildings, the villa street of Novakova, and the north side of Vlaška as far as Petretićev trg.^{2,13,14,15,16} At the 2011 census it had 1,324 residents, 623 households and 855 dwellings, 813 of them for permanent living.⁵ The 2021 census counted 1,104 residents.³

At Ribnjak 1 stands Palača Mikuličić, designed by Juraj Denzler for Josip Mikuličić. The building permit was issued in 1922 and the occupancy permit in 1923.¹⁵ Drago Ibler designed the Markulin apartment building at Ribnjak 16, finished in 1937, and Slavko Löwy the neighbouring rental house for Vilim Lebinac at no. 20 in the late 1930s.^14,13 The ground rises steeply towards Šalata there, so Löwy stepped the floors back, and each floor has its own green terraceBalcony and terrace (balkon, terasa)A balcony projects from the building's façade; a terrace is a level surface on or next to the building, covered or open. Both count only in part in floor-area figures.Source: Pravilnik o načinu obračuna površine i obujma u projektima zgrada (NN 90/10), čl. 4.–5., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary on the courtyard side.¹³

Novakova, most of which is in the Ribnjak committee, has twenty villas built between 1931 and 1941, mostly as rental buildings. Fifteen Croatian architects designed them (Bogdan Petrović did six), and the street is protected as a cultural monument.^16,2

Where the name Ribnjak comes from

Ribnjak means "fishpond". The name comes from the bishops' fishponds that lay here until the 19th century. According to the tourist board and the cathedral, the Kaptol clergy caught fish in them for fast days.^6,7,8

The cathedral's website says that the warm Topolčica stream, which flowed towards today's Ribnjak, formed two small lakes "in the shape of fishponds".⁸ The street along the park's eastern edge carries the same name.^6,2

A short history of Ribnjak

According to the city's nature agency (Javna ustanova Priroda) and the weekly Vijenac, Ribnjak is first mentioned in 1093.^7,9 The Croatian Encyclopaedia lists Ribnjak among the sites of Roman finds and notes that medieval Kaptol's canons' houses were built as far east as Ribnjak.¹⁰

According to the cathedral's website, the surveyor Josip Gigl began measuring the ponds in 1806 on Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac's orders.⁸ Around 1830 Bishop Aleksandar Alagović had them drained and an English-style landscape garden laid out, to a design by Leopold Klingsfogl, Count Batthyány's landscape architect.^6,7,8 According to the nature agency, the garden had three small lakes and, at its northern end, an artificial hill planted with conifers.⁷ In 1870 residents of Vlaška asked Bishop Josip Mihalović to drain the remaining lake, and in 1872 Mihalović ceded part of the grounds to the town for Nadbiskupski trg, today's Langov trg.^9,8

In 1896–1898 the Medveščak stream was moved into a new channel along Ribnjak and Draškovićeva, partly open and partly vaulted.¹¹ ZET vaulted over the open channel in 1930, and in 1931 the tram was moved from its route over Kaptol and Nova Ves to the middle of Ribnjak and Medveščak, above the covered stream.^12,11

After the Second World War the park lay devastated; the landscape architect Zvonimir Fröhlich later redesigned it.^8,9 In 1953 the first pioneer home was built on the site of a post-war milk restaurant for children, and the building took its present form in 1979.^19,20 On 26 June 1970 the park was protected as a monument of park architecture.⁷

In May 2007 the southern part of Šoštarićeva was renamed Trg svibanjskih žrtava 1995. (Square of the May 1995 Victims), and a memorial plaque with the names of the seven civilians killed in the rocket attacks on Zagreb on 2 and 3 May 1995 was put up on the FINA building.^18,17 Since 2015 Zagreb Pride has held its closing gathering and programme in Ribnjak park; before that it was on Zrinjevac.^28,29 In summer 2025 the tram track was rebuilt from Vlaška to Ulica Nike Grškovića, a 650-metre section.^24,25

1. 1093First mention of Ribnjak, according to Javna ustanova Priroda and Vijenac.^7,9
2. 1806The surveyor Josip Gigl begins measuring the ponds on Bishop Vrhovac's orders.⁸
3. c. 1830Bishop Alagović has the ponds drained and an English-style garden laid out.^6,7,8
4. 1872Part of the grounds goes to the town for Nadbiskupski trg, today's Langov trg.⁸
5. 1896–1898The Medveščak stream is moved into a new channel along Ribnjak.¹¹
6. 1922–1923Palača Mikuličić goes up at Ribnjak 1.¹⁵
7. 1931Trams start running down the middle of Ribnjak and Medveščak.^12,11
8. 1931–1941Twenty villas go up on Novakova.¹⁶
9. 1953The first pioneer home, today's Centar kulture Ribnjak, is built.^19,20
10. 1964 and 1966Sculptures by Vojin Bakić and Antun Augustinčić are put up in the park.⁹
11. 1970The park is protected as a monument of park architecture.⁷
12. 2007The southern part of Šoštarićeva is renamed Trg svibanjskih žrtava 1995.¹⁸
13. 2015Zagreb Pride moves its closing gathering from Zrinjevac to Ribnjak park.^28,29
14. 2025The tram track through Ribnjak is rebuilt.^24,25

What to see in Ribnjak

• Ribnjak park

  The old Kaptol wall with its towers bounds it to the west, the remains of the Gamula fortification to the south and Ribnjak street to the east.^6,8 The nature agency gives its area as 4.67 ha, the tourist board as almost 40,000 m².^7,6 The tourist board mentions an old Atlas cedar and many magnolias and sweetgums.⁶

• Two sculptures

  The park has Vojin Bakić's shining metal head of the poet Ivan Goran Kovačić (1964) and Antun Augustinčić's "Stid" ("Shame", 1966).^9,6 Ribnjak was meant to become a sculpture park, but the idea was never carried through.^6,9

• Chapel of St John of Nepomuk

  A neo-Renaissance chapel set into the park's low wall, by the entrance from Langov trg. The cathedral's website dates it to 1834, Vijenac to 1825. According to the cathedral, the boundary wall with the chapel went up in 1878.^8,9

• Centar kulture Ribnjak

  The City's cultural centre at Park Ribnjak 1, until recently called Centar mladih "Ribnjak".^21,22 Its large hall hosts concerts, plays and screenings, and its second-floor terrace concerts under the treetops and summer cinema.²³ According to Vijenac, the children's choir Klinci s Ribnjaka has rehearsed here since 1985.^9,19

• Palača Mikuličić

  A two-storey building at Ribnjak 1, on a long triangular plot between Ribnjak and Zvonarnička. It has been a protected cultural monument since 5 March 2012, and the decision requires its front garden, one of the city's better examples, to be kept.¹⁵

• Ribnjak 16

  Drago Ibler's Markulin apartment building, finished in 1937. Glass prisms set into the treads and landings light its staircase.^14,13

• ŠRC Šalata

  The City's sports centre at Schlosserove stube 2, inside the Ribnjak committee by our reading of the official map.^41,4 Its Olympic pool was built in 1946 and its artificial ice rink in 1961.⁴¹

Did you know?

• 1According to the Ministry of Culture's conservation text, the seven-room first-floor flat in Palača Mikuličić was for a time used by Ban Ivan Šubašić, and later by the Peruvian consulate.¹⁵
• 2According to the cathedral's website, there are photographs of women from Šestine washing laundry at Ribnjak.⁸
• 3The curator A. Ivandija planned to use the warm water of the Topolčica stream to heat the cathedral, the cathedral's website says.⁸
• 4According to Vijenac, in 1930 the architects Zemljak and Bahovac proposed building a football stadium in part of the park. It was never built.⁹
• 5According to HRT, spring storms in 2026 brought down 18 trees in the park, and the Knjige u krošnjama (Books in the Treetops) festival marked them in May with clay models.²⁷

Everyday life in Ribnjak

Renting in Ribnjak

Nearby neighbourhoods

• KaptolNeighbourhood guide
• ZrinjevacNeighbourhood guide
• Upper TownNeighbourhood guide
• Lower TownNeighbourhood guide
• ŠalataNeighbourhood guide
• KvatrićNeighbourhood guide

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

Questions about life in Ribnjak