The 1892 “Zagreb i okolica. Kažiput za urodjenike i strance” is just as marvellous as it sounds.
Zagreb has received more tourism awards than we can count lately – from Best Christmas Market to Top European Destination award, so you might think that this is a recent boom, but Zagreb has been a popular tourist destination for over a century now.
One of the oldest tourist guides of the city, available in digital form here, shows that Zagreb had a lot to offer 125 years ago as well.
“Zagreb and its Surroundings. A Guide for Locals and Foreigners” gives a short overview of guesthouses, coffeehouses, baths, places of worship, theatres, and places where you can send a telegraph from.
“My intention was to arrange the material one by one as pieces of a mosaic, or, better yet, an extensive table of contents for extant books dealing with the history, development, and the current state of Zagreb and its cultural institutions.
If I manage to do so, I will be completely satisfied.
(…)There are 40,268 souls in Zagreb and the number of inhabitants in the past two decennaries has increased by 50 % and as the population grows, so does the city.
There are six main roads and five railroads in Zagreb,” the author, A. Hudovski says.
There’s a history lesson, too, and then an overview of the city and its parts: some of the most typical features of the city are not there yet, while others, such as Medveščak Stream, is there instead of Tkalčićeva Street; the Cathedral is still walled, Ban Jelačić’s statue is facing the other way, and Ilica is already one of the most important streets in the city.
Click here, go back in time, and get a glimpse of what visiting Zagreb 125 years ago could have looked like.
