One of the most iconic Zagreb characters from the past, ladies with baskets on their heads, Šestinske pralje (the laundresses of Šestine) got a monument to mark their importance for Zagreb’s history.
The monument was presented to the public in Šestine on April 28 and it is meant to symbolise not a single person, but all the small women who provided for their families, and celebrates unity and respect to all people, regardless of what their job is.
Before the first washing machines appeared in Zagreb, laundry women would collect bundles of laundry from the people of Zagreb and take it with them to the village of Šestine in baskets on their heads. They would wash it there, at specific points of the Medveščak creek where water was the cleanest, make it crisp white and then bring it back to Zagreb.
Photos by Iva Tatić
Some even say that this is the reason why Zagreb is commonly referred to as bijeli Zagreb grad (the White City).
They were replaced by washing machines in the late ’60s, but the laundresses of Šestine still remain one of the symbols of the city and a reminder of times gone by.
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