Sveta KlaraAn old village of milk sellers and onion growers between the railway and the bypass

Sveta Klara at a glance

• To the main square by ZET54 min
• To the centre as the crow flies6.0 km
• Residents (2021)¹¹11,097
• Growth 2011–2021¹⁴16%

Where Sveta Klara is

Sveta Klara is in Novi Zagreb, in the city district of Novi Zagreb – zapad. Officially it is covered by the Sveta Klara local committee (mjesni odbor), the district's fifteenth, based at Mrkšina 40a; it covers 468 hectares and is part of the settlement of Zagreb.^11,12 Neighbourhoods have no official boundaries, so this guide describes Sveta Klara through that committee.

Under the 2009 founding decision, the committee boundary follows railway lines on the west and north, the boundary with the Novi Zagreb – istok district on the east, and the motorway on the south. So Sveta Klara lies north of the Zagreb bypass, with Čehi and Odra on the other side.^12,14 According to Croatian Wikipedia, its neighbours are Sloboština to the east, Čehi and Buzin to the south, Trokut, Remetinec and Trnsko to the north, and Botinec to the west.²⁴

For and against: life in Sveta Klara

What life is like in Sveta Klara

Sveta Klara grew from an old village laid out on a pattern of farm plots into a suburb.^14,19 In its brief for the Europan 18 competition, the City writes that roads and railways clearly cut it off from the planned estates of Novi Zagreb. Typical buildings are family houses and small blocks, detached or semi-detached, of a ground floor plus two storeys, the upper one often an attic or set-back floor.¹⁴

The old centre is on Mrkšina ulica: the church with its square and cemetery, the primary school, a playing field and the fire station.^14,5 Sisačka cesta runs through the neighbourhood towards Odra and Velika Gorica.¹⁴ The committee area also takes in Svetoklarska, Čavoglavska, Utinjska, Horvatova, Glogovečka and Lukoranska streets.¹²

The number of flats has been rising fast, mainly, according to the City, because a square metre costs less here than elsewhere in Zagreb.¹⁴ In September 2024 Zagreb.info reported a building boom, with blocks holding a couple of hundred flats going up on former meadows and the local committee complaining of over-building.¹⁹ The committee area had 9,560 residents in 2011 and 11,097 in 2021, a rise of 1,537 people or 16%.^13,11,14

The City writes that the old multi-generation way of life is giving way to young families moving in, who live alongside older households of long-time locals.¹⁴ The same document lists too few public facilities, substandard roads and no green network, and in 2024 Zagreb.info listed missing pavements, parking, parks, a health centre and a post office.^14,19

For a City-owned site of about 4.6 hectares on Sisačka cesta, next to the new nursery, the City used the Europan 18 competition to seek a design for an affordable-housing estate called Klara Nova. Of 12 entries, first prize went to The Common Green, by a team from Spain; the results were announced on 17 November 2025.^15,14

The old centre

Along Mrkšina ulica: the parish church with its square and cemetery, OŠ Sveta Klara, a playing field and the fire station.^14,5

Glogovec

The City describes it as an unplanned built-up area; the Infobip building is here. Glogovečka ulica and the hamlet of Zaprudski Glogovec, listed in 1910 among the places of the Sveta Klara municipality, carry the same name.^14,12,9

Horvatovo naselje (Čizmešinka)

The name City planning documents give to the area south of Podbrežje, between the railway and Avenija Većeslava Holjevca.³⁶

Where the name Sveta Klara comes from

According to the historian Vlatka Dugački, the place takes its name from its church of St Clare (Sveta Klara), and the older name, Zapruđe, from the village's position behind the Sava's sandbanks, "iza spruda". She also gives the medieval Latin name, possessio Zaprodye aliter Sancta Clara: the estate of Zapruđe, also called St Clare.¹

The census used both names in turn: the settlement was listed as Zapruđe from 1857 to 1900, as Sveta Klara from 1910 to 1953, and later as Klara.^2,9 Today's Zapruđe estate in the Novi Zagreb – istok district is a different place, so old archive records labelled Zapruđe may refer to Sveta Klara.^2,9 Locals are called Svetoklarci.²⁸

A short history of Sveta Klara

The parish of St Clare was founded on 4 May 1366.^4,6 The church is first mentioned in the 14th century, when it was probably wooden.^4,5,6 According to Vlatka Dugački, citing Lelja Dobronić, the church was built in 1366 in the village of Čehi by the nobleman Petar, son of Martin of Rakonok and owner of Čehi.¹ The parish and the archdiocese don't say where that first church stood.^4,5 The keystone of the present church's portal is carved with its building year, 1768.^4,5,6

The first school, with one classroom and a teacher's flat, was built in 1859 and opened on 5 January 1860; the parish priest Dragutin Janda blessed it and gave part of the church's land for it.⁸ The Sveta Klara municipality, split off from the Odra municipality, started work on 1 July 1910. It covered Čehi, Sveta Klara (Zapruđe), Pobrežje, Zaprudski Glogovec, Zaprudski Otočec and Zaprudski Otok, with 1,603 inhabitants in all.⁹ The volunteer fire brigade was founded in 1930.²⁶ According to a City Assembly report, the folk society Gruda, today's KPD Sveta Klara, followed in 1934.²⁷

After the Second World War the area was drawn into the city step by step: in 1952 there was still a Sveta Klara municipality in the Zagreb district, and the whole area then went into the Remetinec municipality, which was part of the inner city area by 1957.¹⁰ As Novi Zagreb grew, the parish shrank: Siget parish was founded in 1967, Sloboština split off in 1980, and in 2009 Stari Botinec passed to Botinec parish.^4,38 The statistical settlement of Klara ceased to exist in 1991, when its inhabited part was merged into the settlement of Zagreb.³ The Sveta Klara local committee was set up in 2009.¹²

For the parish's 650th anniversary in 2016 the church and rectory were renovated, and Trg svete Klare was laid out in front of the church; HRT called it the first square in Sveta Klara.^4,6 The earthquake of 29 December 2020 caused minor damage to the church.⁴

1. 1366The parish of St Clare is founded on 4 May.^4,6
2. 1768The present church is built; the year is carved on the portal's keystone.^4,5,6
3. 1857The census lists the settlement as Zapruđe, as every census does until 1900.²
4. 1860The first school opens on 5 January.⁸
5. 1910The Sveta Klara municipality starts work on 1 July, with 1,603 inhabitants.⁹
6. 1930The volunteer fire brigade DVD Sveta Klara is founded.²⁶
7. 1957The area, now in the Remetinec municipality, is part of the inner city area.¹⁰
8. 1964According to Dubravko Majnarić, the flood finishes off Radio Zagreb's old records in storerooms at Otok by the Sava.³³
9. 1991The settlement of Klara ceases to exist; its inhabited part joins the settlement of Zagreb.³
10. 2009The Sveta Klara local committee is set up.¹²
11. 2016Trg svete Klare is laid out for the parish's 650th anniversary.^6,4
12. 2022The Infobip campus is presented to the public.³¹
13. 2024HRT reports that all the level crossings around the neighbourhood have been upgraded.¹⁶
14. 2025The Sveta Klara nursery for 240 children is completed.^20,21

What to see in Sveta Klara

• Parish church of St Clare

  A Baroque hall church of 1768 with a rounded apse, a sacristy on the south side and a three-storey bell tower with a pyramid roof on the axis of the main façade. Scenes from the life of St Isidore, patron of farmers, are painted on the choir-loft parapet.⁵ It is a protected cultural property, register no. Z-712.⁷ Beside it is a rectory from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the old cemetery lies east of the church.^4,5,6

• Trg svete Klare

  The square in front of the church was laid out in 2016 for the parish's 650th anniversary. According to HRT, the work took about four months and cost more than 600,000 kuna.^6,4

• Infobip campus

  At Utinjska 29A, designed by the architects 3LHD: offices with flats on top and a public level on the 4th floor with a restaurant, a conference hall and a large terrace-park. It was built from September 2019 to the end of 2021 and presented on 13 April 2022.^30,31

• The Klara bakery on Utinjska

  Zagrebačke pekarne Klara, founded in 1909 as Gradska pekarna (the City Bakery), finished moving to a central plant at Utinjska 48 in 2015. According to the company, it bakes more than 120,000 pieces a day there.^32,12

• The fire station

  The DVD Sveta Klara fire station stands in the village centre, on Mrkšina ulica. According to the brigade, building began in 1956, and its equipment moved into the still-unfinished building by 1964.^26,14

• NK Polet ground

  The ground of the football club NK Polet Sveta Klara. During Klarinje it hosts concerts and football and padel tournaments.^29,24

• Klara community garden

  On Čavoglavska ulica, one of the City's first community gardens, opened in May 2013. The City's 2022 map gives it 120 plot holders.^34,35

Did you know?

• 1According to the catalogue of the International Folklore Festival, in the old days Svetoklarci were known far and wide as "mlekari i lukari", milk sellers and onion growers, who sold onions, cheese and milk at Zagreb's markets.²⁸
• 2According to the same catalogue, KPD Sveta Klara keeps up Turopolje songs and dances, polkas and the drmeš, because the parish also takes in Čehi, Odranski Obrež and Strmec on the edge of Turopolje.²⁸
• 3According to Dubravko Majnarić (Arhivski vjesnik, 1994), Radio Zagreb's pre-war 78 rpm records ended up in unsuitable storerooms at Otok by the Sava (Sveta Klara), and the 1964 flood finished destroying them.³³
• 4According to a report by the Archdiocese of Zagreb, the parish permanently holds a relic of St Clare, a lock of her hair, given by the Poor Clare sisters of Assisi.³⁹

Everyday life in Sveta Klara

Renting in Sveta Klara

Nearby neighbourhoods

• TrnskoNeighbourhood guide
• Savski gajNeighbourhood guide
• SigetNeighbourhood guide
• LaništeNeighbourhood guide
• New ZagrebNeighbourhood guide
• RemetinecNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: New Zagreb – West and Brezovica
• Compare districts: New Zagreb – West and New Zagreb – East
• Compare districts: New Zagreb – West and Podsused – Vrapče
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Sveta Klara