SigečicaIsland streets, interwar houses and a school built on a curve

Sigečica at a glance

• To the main square by ZET29 min
• To the centre as the crow flies2.6 km
• Residents (2021)^3,66,077
• Area^3,482.06 ha

Where Sigečica is

Sigečica is a neighbourhood in the Trnje city district. Officially it is the Sigečica local committee area (mjesni odbor), the eighth of Trnje's 13, covering 82.06 ha. It is part of the settlement of Zagreb, not a separate one.^1,3 Neighbourhoods have no official boundaries, so this guide describes Sigečica within that committee area.

It is bounded by the south side of Ulica grada Vukovara to the north, Heinzelova to the east (also the line with the Peščenica – Žitnjak district), Slavonska avenija to the south and Avenija Marina Držića to the west.^1,2 Radnička cesta runs diagonally through it, from Vukovarska to Heinzelova.^1,7 The usual descriptions, on ZGportal and in the study of the Rapska school for example, close the neighbourhood off at Radnička and leave out the triangle east of it, which holds Zagrebtower (Radnička cesta 80) and the building of the city's emergency-medicine institute (Heinzelova 88).^13,17,1,4,7

Across Vukovarska is Kanal, and across Držićeva the "Marin Držić" committee area. The boundary with the Peščenica – Žitnjak district runs along Heinzelova and Slavonska avenija, so the far side of those streets is already Peščenica – Žitnjak.^1,2

For and against: life in Sigečica

What life is like in Sigečica

Sigečica was built in layers. From the interwar years come small family houses with gardens, built to a plan.^12,13 According to the Rapska school's history, maize fields and tended vegetable gardens surrounded the area until 1959, and the housing complex on Rapska and Paška ended its rural character. The neighbourhood changed again from 1975 to 1983 and from 2006 to 2009.¹² The Zagreb builder Tempo put up flats on Rapska, and in 1957 the architect Miro Marasović designed blocks there with a department store.^28,29

In 2006 the City adopted an urban plan, UPU "Sigečica", for about 19 ha in the east of the neighbourhood, along Vukovarska and Heinzelova.^9,7 A City document on the amendments to the city plan describes this part as a loosely built-up area meant for urban transformation, and a planned extension of Lopudska would cross a large number of built-on private plots.⁷

At the 2021 census the committee area had 6,077 residents in 2,796 households: 965 children up to 14 and 1,138 people aged 65 or over.^3,6 In 2011 it had 5,785 residents with an average age of 42.4, and 3,456 dwellings.^4,5 Between 2001 and 2011 it was the only committee area in Trnje whose population grew, by 5%.⁴

Where the name Sigečica comes from

The linguist Branimir Brgles derives Sigečica, like Siget in Novi Zagreb, from the Hungarian word sziget, "island". Both names recall the larger river islands that once lay in this part of the Sava plain.^10,11 The Rapska school's history reads the name as a diminutive, "little island".¹²

According to ZGportal and the Croatian Wikipedia, Sigečica was the name of a pasture south of today's Slavonska avenija and east of Držićeva.^17,18 Brgles notes that the street names, too, were chosen after Croatian islands.¹⁰ The school's history says the streets were given the names of Adriatic islands in 1928–1929.¹²

A short history of Sigečica

Before it was built up, this was the city's true periphery, with maize fields and pastures that the Sava's floods reached, writes Andrej Žmegač in his study of the Rapska school; the first buildings were cottages and modest workers' homes.¹³ The settlement took shape after the First World War, as Zagreb spread to the south-east. Its small family houses were home mostly to workers and lower-ranking clerks, and Kanal grew up alongside it.^17,18,23

According to Darja Radović Mahečić's book on interwar social housing in Zagreb, quoted by the City in its amendments to the city plan, eight "wagon-type" houses went up in 1924 in the Lašćinšćak enclave in Sigečica. Each held ten one-room flatsOne-room flat (jednosoban stan)A flat with one room besides the kitchen and bathroom, so living and sleeping share it. Unlike a studio, the kitchen is separate.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary of 25 m² sharing four WCs. Six more houses with one-room flats of 33 m² followed in 1928, and the permit was signed by Ivan Zemljak.⁷ In the late 1920s planned building of a group of family houses began too; the streets were regulated and Sigečica officially became part of the city.¹³

The people of Kanal and Sigečica belonged to the distant parish of St Peter.^22,23 The first move to build a church came from members of the Croatian Peasant Party in August 1933.¹⁹ A cross was raised on Držićeva and blessed on Good Friday 1934, and open-air devotions were held under it.^22,23 The foundation stone of the Holy Family church was blessed on 23 August 1936, and the church was under a roof by Christmas that year.²¹ The parish was founded in 1937, and on 27 June that year the coadjutor archbishop Alojzije Stepinac blessed the church.^19,20,21,22

The primary school on Rapska was designed by Ivan Zemljak. His first, symmetrical pavilion design, published in 1933, was not built; the drawings for the building that was are dated 16 April 1938.¹³ The city government issued the building permit on 10 August 1938, the Zagreb firm of Josip Čorak built it, and the school opened on 1 October 1939.^13,12,14 The school's history says that after the fire station (1934), the church and the school, the area took on an urban look.¹²

Trams began running along Vukovarska in 1949 and along Držićeva in 1961–62.³⁰ According to the school's history, a park with a pool and a playground was laid out in 1949 north of the school, towards Vukovarska, to a design by the architect Zvonimir Fröhlich.¹² At Folnegovićeva 10 the TEŽ light-bulb factory (Tvornica električnih žarulja) was designed and built from 1947 to 1953 and extended until 1965, all to designs by Lavoslav Horvat.^24,25,26 In 1965 the school was renamed OŠ "Ivo Marinković"; it got the Rapska name back in 1992.^15,12

Zagrebtower on Radnička was finished in 2006 according to the English Wikipedia, and in 2007 according to the company S IMMO.^42,43 In the earthquake of 22 March 2020 the school got a green (usable) label and the church suffered minor damage.^13,20 The same year the Vrtovi svjetla project, seven buildings with 463 flats, was announced for the TEŽ site.²⁶ The site opened in 2021 and work soon stopped; in October 2024 Ante Grbić, who chairs the local committee council, said ducks could sometimes be seen in the flooded excavation.²⁷

1. 1924Eight "wagon-type" houses with small social-housing flats go up in the Lašćinšćak enclave.⁷
2. 1928–1929The streets are named after Adriatic islands.¹²
3. 1934A cross on Držićeva is blessed on Good Friday and becomes a place of open-air devotions.^22,23
4. 1936The foundation stone of the Holy Family church is blessed.²¹
5. 1937The Holy Family parish is founded, and Alojzije Stepinac blesses the church.^19,20,21
6. 1939Ivan Zemljak's school at Rapska 3 opens.^12,13,14
7. 1947–1953The TEŽ light-bulb factory is built at Folnegovićeva 10 to Lavoslav Horvat's design.^24,25
8. 1949Trams start running along Vukovarska.³⁰
9. 1961–1962Trams start running along Držićeva.³⁰
10. 1965The school is renamed OŠ "Ivo Marinković"; the Rapska name returns in 1992.^15,12
11. 2006The City adopts the UPU "Sigečica" urban plan for the east of the neighbourhood.⁹
12. 2006/2007Zagrebtower is finished at Radnička cesta 80; sources give 2006 or 2007.^42,43
13. 2008The OŠ Rapska building, with its yard and park, is listed as a protected cultural property.^16,12
14. 2026€60,000 is set aside to renew the Pista playground.³⁴

What to see in Sigečica

• OŠ Rapska

  Ivan Zemljak's school of 1939. The classroom wing curves in an arc bulging south, with a radius of 90 metres. You enter from Olipska, yet the address stayed Rapska 3.¹³ The building, with its yard and park, is a protected cultural property (Z-3675).^16,12

• Church of the Holy Family

  At Avenija Marina Držića 31, the parish church for Kanal and Sigečica.²⁰ Antun Res built it; the architect is unknown.^21,23 Stained glass by the Zagreb workshop Stakloslikarija Ivan Marinković was fitted between 1939 and 1941, and Truda Braun painted frescoes of the hidden life of Jesus in 1941.^22,23 It was last restored in 2012 and suffered minor damage in the 2020 earthquake.²⁰

• The TEŽ test tower

  At Folnegovićeva 10. A slender, shallow tower, glazed on two sides and linked by a glazed bridge, designed in 1963 for testing light bulbs.^25,24 In her 2009/2010 survey of Zagreb's industrial heritage, Zrinka Paladino lists it as under preventive protection.²⁴

• Pista

  The neighbourhood's only promenade, on Rapska.³⁵ €60,000 from the "Daj prijedlog za bolji kvart" scheme has been set aside to renew the playground of the same name: €2,000 for the design and €58,000 for the works. Plans include benches on the south side and new equipment, chiefly for children aged 8 to 12.³⁴

• Zagrebtower

  At Radnička cesta 80, in the eastern part of Sigečica.¹ A 22-storey, 79-metre office tower with a lower annex and about 26,000 m² of offices. According to the English Wikipedia, it was designed by Sadar + Vuga.^42,43

• The parks along Vukovarska

  Park 148. brigade HV-a and Park Petra Stipetića form a green strip on the south side of Vukovarska, which city planning treats as a buffer against the avenue's traffic. Most of it is laid out, and in full it would run about 850 metres from Radnička to Držićeva.^1,7,8

Did you know?

• 1In the Zagreb graffiti Fedor Kritovac recorded in 1991, the neighbourhood was SIGA. In the underpass near Kornatska, "FOLKA IS THE BEST" (FOLKA being Folnegovićevo naselje) and "SIGA IS THE BEST" were sprayed over each other, and "SIGA & CANAL" near the chemistry school on Vukovarska marked an alliance with neighbouring Kanal.³⁶
• 2The breastfeeding support group at the Sigečica health clinic is called "Otočići", "Little Islands". It meets on the second Wednesday of the month from 11:00.³⁹
• 3In 1938 the plans for the Rapska school also included a gym and festival hall with an air-raid shelter beneath it. It was dropped for lack of money and never built.¹³

Everyday life in Sigečica

Renting in Sigečica

Nearby neighbourhoods

• KanalNeighbourhood guide
• Folnegovićevo naseljeNeighbourhood guide
• SavicaNeighbourhood guide
• FerenščicaNeighbourhood guide
• PeščenicaNeighbourhood guide
• TrnjeNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Trnje and Lower Town
• Compare districts: Trnje and New Zagreb – East
• Compare districts: Trnje and New Zagreb – West
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Sigečica