SesveteAn old market town by the church of All Saints, now the City of Zagreb's second-largest settlement

Sesvete at a glance

• To the main square by ZET50 min
• To the centre as the crow flies10.4 km
• Residents, Sesvete settlement (2021)¹⁷55,313
• Residents of the Centar, Luka and Gajišće committees (2021)^13,14,1512,038

Where Sesvete is

Sesvete is the name of a city district, a statistical settlement and a neighbourhood. The Sesvete city district (gradska četvrt) covers 25.8% of the City of Zagreb (165.25 km²) and has the most residents of any district, 70,800 at the 2021 census, and the most local committees (mjesni odbori), 46.^19,17,11 The settlement (naselje) of Sesvete is a statistical settlement in its own right, separate from the settlement of Zagreb. Since the 1991 census it has also taken in nine neighbouring settlements, among them Brestje, Jelkovec and Sesvetski Kraljevec, and with 55,313 residents (2021) it is the second-largest settlement in the City of Zagreb.^16,17,18

In this guide the neighbourhood of Sesvete is the old centre around Trg Dragutina Domjanića and the residential streets next to it. The neighbourhood has no official boundary. Going by the City's 2020 decision on local committees, the area is roughly covered by three committees: Centar, between the railway to the south and Zagrebačka cesta, the square and Bjelovarska to the north; Luka, north of the square, between the Vuger stream and Kašinska cesta; and Gajišće, east of Kašinska cesta and north of Bjelovarska. That grouping is our reading of the decision, not an official division.^12,13,14,15 West of the Vuger lies Staro Brestje, with Novo Brestje further west. To the east are Sesvetska Selnica, Sesvetska Sela and Sesvetski Kraljevec, and south of the railway Sesvetska Sopnica, Jelkovec and Novi Jelkovec, which get a guide of their own.¹²

For and against: life in Sesvete

What life is like in Sesvete

According to a 2019 City analysis, the urban part of the Sesvete settlement is far more densely populated than the district's other settlements, which are mostly family houses.¹⁹ From the mid-1960s industry and new arrivals drove the fast urbanisation of what was then a small Sesvete and of the villages along the road to Dugo Selo. They merged into one settlement, where three quarters of the district's people now live.^20,5

In 2011 most of the district's flats had three rooms, followed by two and four. The average household had 3.18 people, more than in any district except Brezovica, and households of five or more were far more common than elsewhere in the city. The district's average age was 37.8, against 41.6 for the whole city.^19,20

Kašinska cesta and Varaždinska cesta meet by Trg Dragutina Domjanića; to the west the square runs into Zagrebačka cesta, and to the east into Bjelovarska.¹² Ninska ulica, now one of the centre's main streets, grew from a field track, according to Muzej Prigorja.⁴⁰

At the 2021 census the three local committees we count as the neighbourhood had 12,038 residents between them, about a fifth of the settlement; Gajišće is by far the largest.^13,14,15,17 According to the City's analysis, the Centar committee area lost 13% of its people between 2001 and 2011, the second-biggest fall in the district.¹⁹

In and around the centre lie several disused industrial and military sites: the former Badel works, the Ciglana Sesvete brickworks, the Duboki jarak army depot and two Sljeme factory sites.^19,20 Changes to the General Urban Plan for Sesvete (GUP Sesveta), the first comprehensive ones in more than ten years, went to a second public consultation in July 2026, and adoption was expected in the autumn.^44,45 The proposals include a new urban plan for the centre, mixed use on the Sljeme site, a linear park from the old centre via Sljeme to Novi Jelkovec and, on the Badel site, two 12-storey buildings and housing up to six storeys. For now they are all proposals.⁴⁶

Centar

The local committee between the railway and Zagrebačka cesta, the square and Bjelovarska, east of the Vuger. It is based at Karlovačka ulica 2/1 and had 1,341 residents on 37 hectares in 2021.^12,13

Luka

The local committee north of the square, between the Vuger and Kašinska cesta. It is based at Ulica Milke Trnine 4 and had 2,650 residents in 2021.^12,15

Gajišće

The local committee east of Kašinska cesta and north of Bjelovarska, up to the boundary with Dobrodol and Markovo Polje, including all of Ulica Ivana Ančića. It is based at Ulica Ivana Gorana Kovačića 11 and had 8,047 residents in 2021.^12,14

Selčina

A part of the centre that gives its name to a branch of Knjižnica Sesvete and to woods in the spatial plans. OŠ Sesvete lists it in its catchment area.^21,27,46

Where the name Sesvete comes from

Sesvete is named after its church of All Saints (Svi sveti). The parish took its name from the church's dedication, and in time the settlement took the parish's name.^1,3 Sesvete is the Kajkavian form of the name.⁵

In the 15th century the place was also recorded under the Hungarian name Mindszent (All Saints), and Muzej Prigorja calls the late-medieval market town oppidum Mindszent.^4,6

A short history of Sesvete

According to Muzej Prigorja, the Roman road from Siscia via Andautonia to Poetovio (Sisak, Šćitarjevo, Ptuj) ran through today's centre of Sesvete and stayed in use in the Middle Ages.⁶ In 1214 King Andrew II gave the estate here to canon Baran, who donated it to the Zagreb cathedral chapter (Kaptol), and the gift was confirmed in 1217. The chapter built the church, founded the parish and was its patron for centuries.³ A church of All Saints stood here by the early 14th century, and in 1334 the chapter's statutes recorded a settlement by the church, which stood by the great road.^1,4,6

A royal privilege of 1475 gave the chapter the right to hold fairs, which made Sesvete a market town (trgovište).^1,6 Ottoman raids halted its rise, and the chapter built an earth-and-timber fort at Sesvete.^6,4 According to the City's history, Sesvete had 107 houses in 1601, only 15 in 1786, and still 15 houses with 169 people in 1866.² Today's church of All Saints was built from 1766 to 1773, and the timber fort was replaced by the chapter's manor house (kurija), finished in 1784.^3,4

The first school opened in December 1864, and in 1870 the railway linked Sesvete with Zagreb.^21,23,1 According to archival research by Muzej Prigorja, the first factory, a meat and lard works, was founded in 1898 to plans by the architect Janko Holjac and opened in February 1899 with about ten workers. The Croatian Encyclopaedia and the City put the start of building in 1879.^7,1,2 As Mesna industrija Sljeme the factory grew to about 1,900 workers at its main plant by the mid-1970s. The museum says it closed in 2005, after 106 years; the encyclopaedia says it worked as Sljeme from 1946 to 2006.^7,1

The municipality (općina) of Sesvete was founded in 1955. When the municipalities of the inner city area merged into a single City of Zagreb in 1967, Sesvete stayed outside it as a separate municipality. From 1982 it was one of the 14 municipalities of the Gradska zajednica općina Zagreb, and on 31 December 1990 it ceased to exist, like Zagreb's other municipalities.^2,5 At the 1991 census nine neighbouring settlements were merged into the settlement of Sesvete.¹⁶ On 6 October that year the 144th Brigade of the Croatian Army was formed, first as the 1st Brigade of the Sesvete Territorial Defence.³⁶ The earthquake of 22 March 2020 badly damaged both towers of the church of All Saints.³

1. 1334The Zagreb chapter's statutes record a settlement by the church of All Saints.^1,4,6
2. 1475A royal privilege grants fairs; Sesvete becomes a market town.^1,6
3. 1766–1773Today's church of All Saints is built.^3,4
4. 1784The chapter's kurija is finished.⁴
5. 1864The first school opens in December.^21,23
6. 1870The railway links Sesvete with Zagreb.^1,2
7. 1899According to Muzej Prigorja, the first factory opens in February.⁷
8. 1952–1956The Sesvete Defence Belt, a line of bunkers more than 11 km long, is built.⁶
9. 1955The municipality of Sesvete is founded.^2,5
10. 1967Sesvete stays outside the unified City of Zagreb as a separate municipality.²
11. 1990Srednja škola Sesvete, now Gimnazija Sesvete, is founded; the municipality ceases to exist on 31 December.^25,2
12. 1991Nine neighbouring settlements are merged into the settlement of Sesvete.¹⁶
13. 2020The earthquake badly damages both towers of the church of All Saints.³
14. 2024The first section of the extended Branimirova opens.⁴⁹

What to see in Sesvete

• Church of All Saints

  According to a study by the art historian Đurđica Cvitanović, it is one of only three surviving elliptical-plan churches in Croatia, with those at Sela near Sisak and at Vivodina. Its two-tower Baroque façade faces the road.⁴ It was built from 1766 to 1773 on the site of an older church. A restoration begun in 2018 is still under way, and the 2020 earthquake badly damaged both towers.^3,4

• The kurija and Muzej Prigorja

  At Trg Dragutina Domjanića 5. The manor house was the chapter's administrative seat, and also an inn and lodging house for travellers.⁸ It was finished in 1784, the year written over its entrance. Its builder is unknown; Cvitanović attributes it, by date and style, to Ivan Eyther, Zagreb's leading builder of the time.⁴ It is a protected cultural property (Z-1948).¹⁰ Since 1977 it has housed Muzej Prigorja, which has run archaeological digs in the area since 1976.^8,2

• Holjac's hall and Jankić

  Janko Holjac's hall of 1898–1899 still stands in the grounds of the former Sljeme factory, its old cold-store ceiling carried by cast-iron columns on a regular 3.50 m grid. In October 2026 larger buildings there were being pulled down, and the hall is slated for demolition too, with no known date.⁷ On the roof of the building known as Kockica stands Jankić, the factory's rusty mascot, a boy in Prigorje folk costume.⁷ The City plans to turn Kockica into a music school; the project is at the design stage.^51,7

• Blockhouses and bunkers

  In the woods north of Badelov brijeg stand three brick blockhouses from the Second World War, built by 1943 at the latest to guard the fuel tanks of Borongaj airfield. Muzej Prigorja has also recorded 18 heavy and 17 light bunkers from the 1950s across the district, four of the heavy ones since demolished. Heavy bunker no. 14, in Divjača wood west of the Vuger, has been 3D laser-scanned.⁶

• The first school, Bjelovarska 32

  According to OŠ Sesvetska Sopnica, the building where the first school opened in December 1864 still stands. Its first teacher was Franjo Ivoš, and 67 pupils enrolled.^23,21

• Trg Dragutina Domjanića

  The main square is named after the Kajkavian poet Dragutin Domjanić (1875–1933), born in Adamovec, a village in the same district not far from Sesvete.^41,42,12

• Memorial to the fallen defenders

  According to the local news site Sesvete Danas, the memorial to Sesvete's fallen defenders stands at the junction of Zagrebačka and Bistrička, where wreaths were laid on Victory Day 2026.³⁷

Did you know?

• 1Ninska ulica was once named after Patrice Lumumba, the Congolese independence leader. Muzej Prigorja made an exhibition about those years.⁴⁰
• 2Some 1950s bunkers were disguised as unplastered brick houses with tiled roofs; none of those houses survives. Muzej Prigorja calls the line the Sesvete Maginot Line.⁶
• 3Former pupils of OŠ Sesvete still like to call themselves Badelovci, after the school's old name, OŠ Marijan Badel. The school says it was for a long time the largest in Croatia; in 1973/74 it had 1,564 pupils in 46 classes.²¹
• 4The film director and cinematographer Nikola Tanhofer was born in Sesvete in 1926. According to Nacional, he was born on Christmas Day, in a railway flat at the station, where his father was a traffic controller.^38,39
• 5Janko Holjac, who designed Sesvete's first factory, later served as mayor of Zagreb from 1910 to 1917.⁷

Everyday life in Sesvete

Renting in Sesvete

Nearby neighbourhoods

• JelkovecNeighbourhood guide
• DubecNeighbourhood guide
• RetkovecNeighbourhood guide
• DubravaNeighbourhood guide
• KlakaNeighbourhood guide
• ŽitnjakNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Sesvete and Donja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Sesvete and Gornja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Sesvete and Peščenica – Žitnjak
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Sesvete