Zagreb City Day: Let's Celebrate Together!
In a city in which the past in intertwined with a dynamic present, the last day of May is special: Zagreb City Day is celebrated!
Zagreb is a popular tourist destination, visited every year by a growing number of tourists from all over the world. Their wish is to get to know the city and many arrive to attend numerous festivals and concerts, scientific, cultural and sporting events. Regardless of their motives, everyone agrees: Zagreb is a safe city with a wonderful atmosphere, many activities and hospitable people.
In the everyday life of the city with a thousand-year long history, the past and the present are intertwined, recorded in the city museums, but also visible in every tour of the city. Citizens and visitors of Zagreb are more aware of the city’s history on one special date – 31 May, which is celebrated as Zagreb City Day.
The historical centre of the city was built in the Middle Ages on two hills, the secular Gradec, which is the Upper Town today, and religious Kaptol which hosts one of the symbols of the city – the cathedral. One year in the history of the city that needs to be emphasised is 1094, the year when the Zagreb Diocese was founded on Kaptol. Another important year is 1242 when King Bela IV granted Gradec the status of the free royal city in a charter.
However, for its citizens, one date and a legend which is connected to it are of particular importance and this is Zagreb City Day. It is connected to the divine protector Our Lady of the Stone Gate. A painting showing her image miraculously survived a serious fire on 31 May 1731. To remember this date, each year there is a procession carrying candles and the image of Our Lady of the Stone Gate, walking from the cathedral, across Ban Josip Jelačić Square, along Radićeva Street to the famous Stone Gate with a votive chapel. The procession garners a lot of attention of citizens and visitors and is a true tourist attraction which can be seen only on this special day.
Zagreb City Day will again this year be marked by numerous other happenings, concerts and performances of folk dances and music in streets and squares, even in Zagreb’s trams. The city will certainly celebrate its birthday with a lot of visitors, in a solemn and festive manner.