SredišćeThe Bundek neighbourhood that was meant to be Novi Zagreb's centre

Središće at a glance

• To the main square by ZET28 min
• To the centre as the crow flies3.7 km
• Residents (2021)⁶4,488
• Area⁶92.21 ha

Where Središće is

Officially Središće belongs to the city district of Novi Zagreb – istok (east), and a single local committee (mjesni odbor), 7. Mjesni odbor Središće, covers all of it, with its seat at Ulica Ivana Šibla 8.⁶ It isn't a separate settlement but part of the settlement of Zagreb.⁷ Neighbourhoods have no official boundaries, so this guide describes Središće through that committee.

The committee area runs from the Sava in the north to Avenija Dubrovnik in the south, between Avenija Većeslava Holjevca to the west and Ulica Savezne Republike Njemačke to the east, and takes in Lake Bundek.⁷ The housing estate itself ends at Ulica Damira Tomljanovića Gavrana to the north.^1,12 Zapruđe lies to the east and Sopot to the south, while the Utrine committee touches Središće only at its south-east corner, at the junction of Ulica SR Njemačke and Avenija Dubrovnik.^8,9,10 Trnje is across the Sava, and across Avenija Holjevca are Kajzerica and, to the south-west, Siget, in the Novi Zagreb – zapad (west) district.^7,11,12

For and against: life in Središće

What life is like in Središće

The eastern part of Središće is mostly tall blocks of flats built to the original urban plan.¹ In 2015 the City described the western part, Središće – zapad, as a mix of a small old enclave of houses surrounded by vegetable gardens and meadows, and new plots divided by new streets.¹ According to the site Mapiranje Trešnjevke, participants in a 2024 walk found a row of vegetable gardens kept by residents in a small green pocket beside the blocks.⁴⁰

Centar Bundek, a complex of offices and 227 flats, got its occupancy permit in January 2013, when the first residents moved in.³³ According to its investor, the Meandar project of 2017 planned 367 flats in four wings of seven or eight floors around an inner park, on the block between Avenija Dubrovnik, Stonska, Ulica Julija Knifera and Ulica Ede Murtića.³⁵ In 2022 Igor and Ivan Franić won the competition for a business and residential building by Avenija Većeslava Holjevca.⁴⁸ The result is the Museum Residence beside the MSU, with Igor Franić as lead designer. According to the portal Bauštela, its flats were on sale as finished in July 2026, with an occupancy permit.⁴⁹

At the 2021 census the committee area had 4,488 residents; according to a City statistical publication, there were 3,708 in 2011.^6,11 Estate agents quoted by Jutarnji list in 2019 said flats there were sought by, among others, staff of the US Embassy in Buzin and of companies in Novi Zagreb, and linked the rise in demand to Bundek park, RIT Croatia and the new American school.³⁴ In 2020 Večernji list described Središće as a neighbourhood "booming with young families".³⁰

The residents' association Glog, founded in 2008, represents local interests, and in 2018 it ran a petition to keep and extend a park on Stonska ulica.³ In its 2024 amendments to the master plan (GUP), the City partly accepted a request to drop the unbuilt part of the Stonska corridor: the stretch between Vojina Bakića and Damira Tomljanovića Gavrana is no longer classed as a main city street, and Ulica Vjenceslava Richtera no longer as a city street.⁵²

Where the name Središće comes from

The writer Gustav Krklec named the Novi Zagreb estates, working mostly from old maps and plans so as to keep the old local place names. The estate in the middle he called Središće, from središte, centre.^1,2,4 According to the Glog association and the portal Bauštela, the name comes from the idea that this neighbourhood would be the centre of Novi Zagreb.^2,4 Separately, the City's plans set the land between the Zagreb Fair (Velesajam) and Središće aside for a new city centre, Centar južnog Zagreba, and the idea of a central city axis began to take shape with the MSU building in western Središće.¹

According to the architect Mirko Maretić, quoted by Bilten, Središće is the only neighbourhood name Krklec made up himself.⁵ Bilten also writes that Zdenko Kolacio, then head of Zagreb's Urban Planning Institute, invited Krklec to name the new estates on the suggestion of the architect Ivan Zemljak.⁵ In the words of the portal Bauštela, Središće never came to life as Novi Zagreb's centre.⁴ According to Jutarnji list, the neighbourhood is also called Bundek, after the lake and park.³⁴

A short history of Središće

Before the Sava embankment the area was mostly marshland, with a few scattered family houses.^2,12 According to Mapiranje Trešnjevke, a small village called Bundek stood between today's estate and Avenija Većeslava Holjevca, and a few family houses near Brodska ulica descend from it.⁴⁰ The Zagreb Fair (1957) and Most slobode (1959) opened up the empty land south of the Sava, and the 1962 sketch plan for southern Zagreb planned a new city there for about 250,000 people.^1,11 Sources differ on how the lake began. The City's 2015 programme says it was dug for gravel to build the bridge, while Mapiranje Trešnjevke says gravel was dug there for the Brodarski institut from 1949.^1,40

Središće came after Zapruđe, in a run of estates of which Sloboština is the youngest.^1,11 The competition for the estate was won by Vinko Uhlik's team with Berislav Brnčić, Željko Čidić and Desa Vrcan, who then worked on the plans and construction; the competition model is dated 1976.^13,2 According to the Glog association, the architects wanted to group the buildings around what was then a clear-water side channel of the Sava and open the estate towards the river and Bundek, but the City planning office didn't take this up, filled the channels in and laid out a park instead.²

The sources give no single building date. Glog places Središće in the third stage of Novi Zagreb's development, from 1975 to 1986, and the first six large buildings in 1982–1986.² According to the OŠ Zapruđe chronicle, pupils from the new Središće estate were already going to school in Zapruđe in 1980/81.¹⁵ The first tram crossed the Sava on 25 November 1979, over Most mladosti to Sopot, and in 1985 the tram ring through Novi Zagreb was closed.^16,17

Bundek park and lake were completely redone in 2005.³⁷ The Museum of Contemporary Art opened its new building on Avenija Dubrovnik in December 2009, and in 2013 RIT Croatia moved its Zagreb campus to the Bundek business centre.^18,21,32 Since 1 August 2014, when the Zapruđe – Središće parish was abolished, the neighbourhood has belonged to the Body of Christ parish in Sopot.³⁶

In 2015 Središće was the only Novi Zagreb estate without a primary school: its children went to Zapruđe, Sopot and other neighbourhoods, and residents had waited years for a school and a nursery.^25,14 Uhlik told Tportal that the school had always been planned for the baseball-field site, which is why the estate's north-east corner was left empty.¹⁴ The 2015 competition for the complex, on a site of about 46,750 m², was won by David A. Croteau, Jenni Katajamäki, Vedran Pedišić and Erick Velasco Farrera.^1,28 The American International School opened in 2018, OŠ Središće on 14 January 2020 and the nursery on 9 March 2021.^27,26

1. 1957–1959The Zagreb Fair (1957) and Most slobode (1959) open the land south of the Sava for building.¹
2. 1962The sketch plan for southern Zagreb draws a city for about 250,000 people south of the Sava.^1,11
3. 1976The model from the estate competition; Vinko Uhlik's team wins first prize.^13,2
4. 1979On 25 November the first tram crosses the Sava, over Most mladosti to Sopot.^16,17
5. 1980/81Pupils from the new Središće estate go to school in Zapruđe.¹⁵
6. 1982–1986According to the Glog association, the first six large buildings go up.²
7. 1985The tram ring through Novi Zagreb is closed.^16,17
8. 1998According to a letter from Baseball klub Zagreb, the city's first baseball ground is built in Središće.²⁴
9. 2005Bundek park and lake are completely redone.³⁷
10. 2009In December the MSU opens its new building at Avenija Dubrovnik 17.^18,21
11. 2013The first residents move into Centar Bundek, and RIT Croatia moves in too.^33,32
12. 2018The American International School of Zagreb opens.^27,34
13. 2020OŠ Središće opens on 14 January with 140 pupils.²⁶
14. 2021The nursery opens on 9 March, completing the school complex.²⁷

What to see in Središće

• Lake and Park Bundek

  In the north of Središće; the lake is inside the committee area.^37,7 The park covers 545,000 m², about 50,000 m² of it water. The large lake has a 10,000 m² beach with lifeguards in summer and a ramp for wheelchair users, and the small lake is left as natural habitat.^37,38 A stage on the water seats about 2,500, and in 2006 the City decided to move the Floraart flower show here.^38,39

• Museum of Contemporary Art

  At Avenija Dubrovnik 17, in a building designed by Igor Franić and opened in December 2009.^18,21 At about 15,000 m² it is, according to the museum, the largest museum building in Croatia, and a 90-metre LED screen on its façade shows artists' video works.¹⁸

• The Double Slide

  Carsten Höller's work was commissioned and built while the museum went up, and it is part of the building's structure; it runs from the 3rd and 2nd floors to the ground floor.¹⁹ It reopened after restoration on 3 July 2024. Visitors may slide once per visit from the 2nd floor, from the 3rd only at special events, and not in rain or snow.²⁰ The MSU Pass, a six-month ticket for €30 introduced on 2 May 2026, includes one ride.²³

• Eyes of Purification

  Mirosław Bałka's 2009 work on the southern platform in front of the MSU entrance: a small concrete room with water circulating around and through it, meant as a quiet place on the large entrance square.²²

• The school complex

  In the north-east of the estate, on the land of the former baseball field.^1,25 According to ArchDaily, the 15,856 m² complex lines the plot's eastern edge, with the American International School at the north-east corner, OŠ Središće at the south-east and a low nursery between them.⁵³

Did you know?

• 1The Glog association takes its name from the hawthorn (glog) trees that, by its own account, grew in Središće and around Bundek before the estate was built.³
• 2According to a letter from Baseball klub Zagreb, the ground in Središće was Zagreb's only baseball field in 2008, and the club hosted European Baseball Confederation tournaments there.²⁴
• 3According to Tportal, Lake Bundek almost completely dried up in August 2022, during the European drought.⁵¹
• 4According to the OŠ Zapruđe chronicle, in 1984/85 residents of Zapruđe and Središće paid for work on the Zapruđe school through a local self-contribution (samodoprinos).¹⁵

Everyday life in Središće

Renting in Središće

Nearby neighbourhoods

• SopotNeighbourhood guide
• ZapruđeNeighbourhood guide
• UtrineNeighbourhood guide
• New ZagrebNeighbourhood guide
• SigetNeighbourhood guide
• TravnoNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: New Zagreb – East and New Zagreb – West
• Compare districts: New Zagreb – East and Peščenica – Žitnjak
• Compare districts: New Zagreb – East and Trnje
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Središće