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Arcotel Allegra Zagreb
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Arcotel Hotel & Resorts Austria opened Zagreb's first design hotel. By following the world...
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Croatia: Search for areas
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Zagreb
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Description
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Pictures
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Zagreb (pronounced ZAH-greb) is the capital city of Croatia.
While the human habitats were present at the wider city area since the Neolithic (including the well-preserved Roman town of Andautonia), its modern name was recorded for the first time in the 11th century (1094). In that year the Hungarian King Ladislaus founded a bishopric on the Kaptol hill. An independent secular community developed on a neighbouring hill Gradec (Grič). The settlements suffered greatly under the Mongol invasion of 1242, but when they abruptly left, King Bela IV declared Gradec a royal autonomous city in order to attract foreign artisans.
The wider Zagreb area has been constantly inhabited ever since the prehistoric period, witnessed by the archaeological findings in the Veternica cave from the Paleolithic and the excavation of the remains of a destroyed Roman town of Andautonia near the present village of Ščitarjevo.
Picturesque ex-villages on the slopes of Medvednica: Šestine, Gračani and Remete are arranged around the city like beads of a necklace, and maintain their rich tradition even today: folk costumes, Šestine umbrellas, gingerbread products, etc.
The Medvednica mountain (Zagrebačka gora), with its highest peak Sljeme (1,033 m), provides a panoramic view of metropolitan Zagreb, the Sava and the Kupa valleys, the region of Hrvatsko Zagorje. From the top of the mountain, and during fair weather, the vista reaches as far as Velebit mountain and snow-capped peaks of the Julian Alps in nearby Slovenia. There are several mountain huts offering accommodation and restaurants providing refreshment for hikers. Skiers visit Sljeme which has four ski-runs, three ski-lifts and a chairlift.
The old Medvedgrad, a medieval burg built in the 13th century and recently restored, represents a special attraction of the Medvednica hill. It overlooks the western part of the city and also has the Shrine of the Homeland, a memorial place with eternal flame, where Croatia pays reverence to all its heroes fallen for homeland in its history, customarily on the national holidays.
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