ŠestineAn old parish below Medvednica, with St Mirko's church and a red umbrella

Šestine at a glance

• To the main square by ZET35 min
• To the centre as the crow flies4.9 km
• Residents of the MO (2021)³3,594
• Area of the MO³935.08 ha

Where Šestine is

Šestine lies on the southern slopes of Medvednica.⁴ Officially it belongs to the city district of Podsljeme and is covered by 4. Mjesni odbor Šestine, one of the district's five local committees (mjesni odbori); the others are Gračani, Markuševec, Mlinovi and Vidovec.^3,5 Neighbourhoods have no official boundaries, so this guide describes Šestine through that committee.

Under the 2009 ordinance on local committees, the committee borders the Črnomerec district to the west, Gornji grad – Medveščak to the south, Mlinovi to the south-east and Gračani to the east. To the north it reaches the city boundary on the Medvednica ridge, south of the TV tower.⁶ The same ordinance says the committee covers part of the settlement (naselje) of Zagreb, and the Croatian Bureau of Statistics lists Šestine, Šestinski Kraljevec and Dedići as former settlements whose figures now come under Zagreb.^6,7,8 The committee is based at Šestinski trg 10, the same address as the Podsljeme district office.³

For and against: life in Šestine

What life is like in Šestine

According to the City's spatial plan, low housing on the Podsljeme hills dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries, in clusters of Prigorje villages such as Isce, Šestine and Mikulići.²² The same plan counts the centre of Šestine, the Šestine cemetery and the Šestinski lagvić excursion spot among its especially valuable areas.²²

According to Jutarnji list in 2017, the architect Miloš Pecotić designed a brick family house with two flats on the western slope below the church cemetery and kept two old brick buildings with steep roofs. He says the old village typology has been almost wiped out by what he calls transitional urbicide.²³

At the 2021 census the committee area had 3,594 residents, 80 more than in 2011.^3,24 In 2011, 37.8% of residents had higher education, the second-largest share in Podsljeme after Mlinovi at 43.3%.²¹

Besides Šestine, St Mirko's parish also covers Mlinovi, Dedići, Lukšići and Mikulići.^25,26 HSPD Sljeme Šestine, Zagreb's oldest such society by the City's account, runs the Šestinski dani festival, and in 2025 it marked 130 years with a concert at the Croatian National Theatre.^27,28

Dinamo futsal goalkeeper Ivan Pavlić told the club's website that he grew up in Šestine, and Gloria reports that the rapper Steve Mešić Ludin, who wrote the 2026 Croatian fan anthem Idemo na vrh, grew up there too.^29,30

The centre

Šestinski trg with St Mirko's church, the cemetery and the convent. Since 2022 Šestinska cesta, Šestinski vijenac and Šestinski trg have met at a roundabout.^31,32,33

Šestinski Kraljevec

A village of the old Šestine parish. According to the City, it is first named in 1273, in a decision by which King Ladislaus IV gave the land, until then called Fayz, to Bishop Timotej.³¹

Dedići

According to the local-history site ZGportal, the land of Dedići is mentioned as early as the 13th century, and its people, unlike others, were exempt from dues to Medvedgrad.³⁴

Where the name Šestine comes from

The Croatian Encyclopaedia derives the name from šestina, a form of feudal rent paid on the sixth day of the week.³⁵ Folk tradition, as the City tells it, says the peasants went to do their corvée, unpaid work for the lords, at the Medvedgrad manor farm on the sixth day of the week, which they called going to the šestina.^31,36

According to the parish, the settlement was called Zakutek at the time of the 1574 synod.²⁶

A short history of Šestine

The settlement began to grow in the 13th century, after Medvedgrad was built.^35,36 The church at Šestine, then a chapel of St Emeric (sv. Mirko), is first mentioned in 1240.^25,26 The parish is first mentioned in 1574, at a synod of the Zagreb diocese, and is recorded as a separate parish from 1673.^25,35

Stjepko Gregorijanec, the last lord of Medvedgrad, built a manor at Šestine in the 16th century and moved there with his family in 1590, when an earthquake wrecked Medvedgrad.^37,36 A new church was built on older foundations in 1622.^25,26

The school opened on 23 November 1863 as a one-class elementary school for Šestine and six nearby villages; Count Miroslav Kulmer, lord of Šestine, paid for the building.^38,18 The separate municipality of Šestine was founded on 1 May 1893, with its seat in Šestine. Besides Šestine it took in Gračani, and later Remete and Markuševec; all three left it in 1921.^31,39 Ante Starčević died in Zagreb on 28 February 1896 and, at his own wish, was buried in Šestine.^40,2 Ivan Rendić's monument on his grave was unveiled in 1903.^41,36

The old church was pulled down in 1909 and today's church built in its place as a rebuilding of the 1622 church.^25,42 On 25 September 1927 the auxiliary bishop of Zagreb, Franjo Salis-Seewis, consecrated the church.^25,26

Towards the end of the Second World War the manor was destroyed by fire and an ammunition explosion, and in 1945 it was left devastated and nationalised; its last owner, the painter Ferdinand Kulmer, lost all his property after the war.^37,35,31 Šestine was joined to Zagreb at the turn of 1949–1950.^31,43 In 1952 a municipality of Šestine was formed, one of three outlying municipalities in what is now Podsljeme, and three years later Šestine passed to the Gornji grad municipality.³¹ The local committee was founded in February 2009.^31,6

The earthquake of 22 March 2020 damaged St Mirko's church.⁴⁴ Work on the roundabout began in April 2021, its first phase being the demolition of the parish house, and the roundabout was finished in June 2022.^32,45,33 The structural repair of the church, paid for by the EU Solidarity Fund, ran from July 2022 to the summer of 2023.^42,46

1. 1240The church at Šestine is first mentioned.^25,26
2. 1273The village of Kraljevec is first named, in a decision of King Ladislaus IV.³¹
3. 1590Stjepko Gregorijanec and his family move from quake-wrecked Medvedgrad to the manor at Šestine.^37,36
4. 1673Šestine is recorded as a separate parish.³⁵
5. 1863The school opens as a one-class elementary school.^38,18
6. 1893The separate municipality of Šestine is founded.^31,39
7. 1895The Sljeme singing society is founded.^2,27
8. 1896Ante Starčević is buried in Šestine, at his own wish.^40,2
9. 1909Today's St Mirko's church is built in place of the old one.^25,42
10. 1927Auxiliary bishop Franjo Salis-Seewis consecrates the church.^25,26
11. 1949–1950Šestine is joined to Zagreb.^31,43
12. 2009The Šestine local committee is founded.^31,6
13. 2022The roundabout is finished and the structural repair of the quake-damaged church begins.^33,42
14. 2026Bus 101 is extended to the Šestine roundabout.^9,10

What to see in Šestine

• St Mirko's church

  At Šestinski vijenac 1, a protected cultural property (Z-2157).^22,42 It is known for its star-patterned roof; after the earthquake it was re-roofed under conservators' supervision to look as it did before.^46,42 The Kulmer counts, among them the painter Ferdinand Kulmer, lie in its crypt.³¹

• Ante Starčević's grave

  In front of the church. According to the parish death register, Starčević was buried on 4 March 1896, in front of the bell tower.⁴⁰ Ivan Rendić's 1903 monument shows a lion tearing at iron bars, a figure of Croatia and an oak standing for Starčević, on a marble base set with fragments of early Croatian monuments. It is a protected cultural property (Z-4077).^41,22

• Kulmerovi dvori

  A neo-Renaissance manor on the hill above Šestine, closed to visitors.³⁷ Ivica Todorić's Agrokor bought it in 1999, and according to Jutarnji list the restoration began after a court case over restitution ended. The estate covers 55,000 m², and the one-storey manor is 54 metres long.^35,47

• St Roch's chapel

  On Prilaz Kraljičinu zdencu, a protected cultural property (Z-2386) and still the scene of a traditional church fair (proštenje).^22,48

• Šestinski lagvić

  An excursion spot where trail no. 13, Miroslavec, one of the oldest on Medvednica, sets off for Kraljičin zdenac, a favourite outing for Zagreb people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.¹⁶ Two lime trees by the Šestinski lagvić restaurant are on the list of protected trees.²²

• Sveta Obitelj convent

  Beside the church, at Šestinski vijenac 3, is a convent of the Daughters of Mercy, the order founded in 1919 by Blessed Marija Propetog Isusa Petković.^31,48

• The DVD Šestine mural

  According to Index.hr, the mural, finished by March 2021 at the volunteer fire station (DVD), shows five firefighters carrying an injured person out of the ruins after the earthquake of 22 March 2020, after a photograph by Novi list's Davor Kovačević.⁴⁹

Did you know?

• 1The Šestine umbrella is made of red cotton with coloured stripes, with a thick wooden shaft and a naturally curved chestnut handle, and is part of the local folk costume.^50,51 The maker Cerovečki says the craft of making it in its workshop is on Croatia's list of protected intangible cultural heritage.⁵⁰
• 2According to Croatian Post, similar costumes on the Medvednica foothills are called the Šestine type, after this one. It issued a stamp showing the Šestine costume on 28 June 2018.⁵²
• 3According to the news site Narod.hr, the Sljeme society first appeared in public at Starčević's funeral in 1896, and he was buried in Šestine peasant shoes (opanci), as he had wished.²
• 4According to the State Archives in Zagreb, in 1904 the Šestine school brought in an undivided school day, which made it the first school in Zagreb County with experimentally organised teaching.³⁸
• 5According to Novi list, Croatia's first walking-football tournament was played at the MNK Šestine pitch on 8 October 2022. A plaque at the club says the history of the sport in Croatia began there, and the journalist Goran Milić took the kick-off.⁵³

Everyday life in Šestine

Renting in Šestine

Nearby neighbourhoods

• MlinoviNeighbourhood guide
• GračaniNeighbourhood guide
• JelenovacNeighbourhood guide
• Šestinski dolNeighbourhood guide
• RemeteNeighbourhood guide
• PantovčakNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Podsljeme and Črnomerec
• Compare districts: Podsljeme and Gornja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Podsljeme and Upper Town – Medveščak
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Šestine