Throughout its history, Zagreb has suffered numerous devastating fires which, on several occasions, almost completely destroyed Gradec and Kaptol. For centuries, houses were built of wood, with thatched roofs, and stood close together, often with one leaning against another. It took only a single fire for the flames to become an unstoppable force within moments. And so Zagreb would burn every thirty years or so. Yet each time, it would rise from the ashes.

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One of the largest and most devastating fires broke out in 1645. It started in the house of Count Drašković after it was struck by lightning, and almost the entire Gradec was affected. The roof of St Mark’s Church was badly damaged.

Less than thirty years later, in 1674, another fire broke out in Gradec. This time, strong winds drove the flames onwards, and the fire spread to Kaptol. While houses were destroyed in Gradec, Kaptol suffered enormous damage, with the canons’ residences and the homes of serfs burnt down.

A third major fire occurred in 1706. The flames broke out in Opatovina and quickly spread throughout Kaptol. The Franciscan monastery and church were completely destroyed, while the interior of Zagreb Cathedral was also badly damaged, including the organ and part of the church furnishings.

The grim sequence continued at almost regular intervals.

The fire of 1731 once again engulfed Gradec, and the flames reached the interior of the Stone Gate, which was then the main entrance to the city. But this fire is remembered not only for the destruction it caused. It is also remembered for the ‘miracle in the ashes’.

After the fire had been extinguished, an untouched image of the Virgin Mary with Jesus was found among the burnt remains inside the gate. The wooden frame had been completely destroyed, but the image itself remained unharmed. The event was declared a miracle, and the widow Modlar had a Baroque altar built inside the gate itself. The city’s principal shrine still stands there today.

Then came 1880, forever etched in Zagreb’s history as the year of the great earthquake.

And as if one disaster were not enough, fires broke out in the Lower Town, which was rapidly developing at the time, as a result of collapsed chimneys and overturned stoves following the earthquake. The half-destroyed city was transformed into one vast scene of devastation.

How were fires fought before organised firefighting?

Long before Zagreb had an organised fire service, firefighting in Gradec and Kaptol was spontaneous, unorganised and based on the legal obligation of citizens.

Whenever bells rang from church towers or the city watchman sounded his horn, tradespeople and citizens were required to stop work and rush to the scene of the fire.

According to tradition, the main method of firefighting was to form human chains from the nearest well or stream to the site of the fire. Water was passed from hand to hand in leather, wooden or canvas buckets.

And once a fire had taken hold, there was little time to think. Wooden houses covered with thatch or shingles provided ideal fuel for flames that could spread at astonishing speed. Although there are no factual records to confirm it, it is believed that some buildings may have been pulled down to block the fire’s path.

In such a city, a fire was not merely an accident. It was a threat to the entire neighbourhood.

Organised Fire Services

Everything began to change when Zagreb acquired organised fire brigades.

The first voluntary firefighting organisation in Zagreb was established in 1869, while the first professional brigade, today’s Zagreb City Fire Brigade, was officially established on 1 October 1910.

More than a century ago, special monitoring stations, known as fire alarm stations, already existed at important locations throughout the city. From these stations, a fire could be reported to the fire station at any time of day or night.

Zagreb was divided into districts, and the location of a fire could be indicated using special optical signalling devices from the Lotrščak Tower at Dverce.

When the Zagreb Volunteer Fire Brigade moved to a new fire station on Savska cesta on 20 September 1909, serious consideration began to be given to establishing a permanent paid fire brigade.

From the very beginning, the organisation brought together around 100 volunteers. Its core consisted of Zagreb tradespeople – chimney sweeps, bricklayers, locksmiths, carpenters and joiners. Their professions meant that they knew houses, roofs and tools inside out. The knowledge they used in their everyday work was now being put to use to save other people’s lives and property.

The Most Successful Job Interview

And then, in the spring of 1932, one young man decided that he would not get a job as a firefighter by conventional means.

Twenty-six-year-old Mato Juričić, originally from Štinjan near Pula, had already been living in Zagreb without work for several months. His greatest ambition was to become a professional firefighter.

At the time, firefighters had to be in outstanding physical condition, exceptionally agile and fearless at heights. So Mato came up with a rather radical way of attracting attention to himself.

He climbed onto the cross atop the cathedral tower and began performing acrobatics. He balanced on the cross and performed a handstand, all in a strong, cold wind.

After this feat, he was given the nickname ‘Mato Katedralac’.

When he had finished his acrobatics and climbed down from the tower, the police were waiting for him on the ground and took him in for questioning. But when the commanders of the Zagreb fire service heard about his incredible feat of courage – or madness – they were amazed.

Mato got the job he had longed for. He spent the following decades working for the Zagreb Fire Brigade, where he proved to be an exceptionally capable and dedicated firefighter. Over time, his story of climbing the cathedral became a lasting part of Zagreb’s urban folklore.

Unusual Call-outs

Over time, firefighters became much more than a service that simply put out fires.

As they were the only organised service in the city equipped with ladders, ropes and training for working at heights, citizens and the police called on them for almost every kind of crisis and unusual situation.

Including the hunt for ‘Zagreb vampires’ and ghosts.

Of course, there were no vampires or ghosts. What frightened Zagreb’s residents at night were usually owls, stray cats or the wind moving old metal weather vanes on rooftops and creating eerie sounds.

Before police negotiators and air cushions existed, firefighters were the first line of defence when it came to preventing suicides in public places.

They were also called when drunk adventurers needed to be brought down from gas lamps and rooftops. Catching escaped circus animals was sometimes part of their job too, as was rescuing horses from ravines and canals into which they had fallen during the winter.

Whatever the situation, even today firefighters are the first people who come to mind when something unusual and unpredictable happens. Because when all other solutions fail, there is still their knowledge, courage, skill and equipment.

The expression “Zagreb’s Black School” (Črna škola in the local Kajkavian dialect) is the legendary folk name for Zagreb’s first seminary on Kaptol. Although the seminary was simply a place of education with no connection to magic, popular superstition and widespread illiteracy gave rise to stories that linked it with sorcery—and, above all, with the mysterious Thirteenth Year.

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The name “Black School” most likely originated from the black cassocks worn by its students. Their distinctive dark robes made such an impression on local people that the seminary itself became known as the Black School.

Another legend connected with the name concerns Franjo Filipović, a canon who converted to Islam after being captured by the Ottomans during the sixteenth century. He subsequently became known as Mehmed-beg Filipović. According to local tradition, when Bishop Juraj Drašković heard of his conversion, he cursed him and ordered his house to be painted black. The building was later converted into a seminary, but the popular name “Black School” remained.

According to folklore, however, the Black School was no ordinary seminary. It was believed to conceal a secret Thirteenth Year reserved for apprentices in the dark arts. In Croatian and neighbouring folk traditions, those who completed this mysterious final year became known as grabancijaši—literally, the students of the Black School.

The Thirteenth Year and the Devil’s Bargain

Ordinary priestly education was believed to last twelve years. Yet those who wished to master supernatural powers and black magic were said to enrol secretly in a hidden thirteenth year.

Some traditions claimed that these lessons took place underground in complete darkness, or within secret chambers hidden inside the Black School itself, where students spent years without ever seeing daylight. According to popular belief, the true teacher was none other than the Devil, while other versions speak of mysterious supernatural beings who taught their pupils the language of animals, magical spells, fortune-telling, and the ability to command storms.

Completing the Thirteenth Year transformed a student into a fully fledged grabancijaš. Yet this graduation came at a terrible cost. At the end of their studies, the Devil would claim one graduate to remain in his service—according to some stories by drawing lots—while the others were allowed to leave with their newly acquired magical powers.

The Powers of a Grabancijaš

Those who survived the Thirteenth Year were believed to possess extraordinary abilities. They could summon, calm, awaken or even ride a winged dragon using magical words. They were said to control storm clouds, hail and thunder, and to travel the world carrying a single enchanted book filled with powerful spells.

People believed that a grabancijaš could always be recognised by his appearance and unusual habits. His clothes were typically torn and shabby, and he carried nothing except a bag containing one remarkably thick magical book. Whenever he entered a village, he would ask only for fresh milk or kajmak (a traditional dairy delicacy similar to clotted cream). He avoided looking people directly in the eye, rarely spoke, and when he did, he muttered incomprehensible words in Latin.

Some regions even believed that grabancijaši were born with unusual physical features, such as a tiny tail or double rows of teeth.

Villagers feared them greatly. They usually gave them whatever they requested, believing that refusal would bring disaster upon their crops.

Masters of Storms

If a grabancijaš was offended—for example, if someone refused him milk—or if the Devil commanded him to mount his dragon among the clouds, violent storms and devastating hail would soon follow.

To defend themselves, people developed an entire repertoire of protective rituals. Church bells were rung, blessed candles lit, and counter-magic was performed by benevolent witches and folk healers.

One of the best-known customs involved carrying the household dining table into the courtyard. A loaf of bread and a bowl of salt were placed upon it, while an axe was driven into the ground in front of the table with its blade pointing towards the sky. The axe was believed to symbolically slice through the storm clouds and break the grabancijaš’s magical power.

A Legend with European Roots

This remarkable tradition is even more fascinating when viewed in its wider European context. Similar legendary figures appear across Central and Eastern Europe: the grabancijaš in Croatia and Hungary, the solomonari in Romania, and the črnošolci (“black-school students”) in Slovenia.

Historians and ethnologists generally agree that these legends probably reflect a very real medieval phenomenon. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, students from Croatia travelled to Europe’s great universities, including Bologna, Padua, Vienna and Prague.

When these young scholars eventually returned to their isolated rural communities, they brought with them heavy Latin books, unfamiliar scientific knowledge, strange vocabulary, and the ability to make educated predictions about the weather through astronomy and natural philosophy. After long journeys, they often appeared poor, exhausted and untidy.

To largely illiterate villagers, such learned travellers—with mysterious books written in an incomprehensible language—could only be graduates of the secret Thirteenth Year, men who had learned to command dragons and storms.

The legend became so deeply embedded in the folklore of north-western Croatia that it eventually entered Croatian literature. In 1804, the celebrated playwright Tituš Brezovački based his famous comedy Matijaš Grabancijaš Dijak on the legend. Its clever protagonist is precisely such a “graduate” of the Black School, using his supposed magical knowledge to outwit the superstitious people he encounters.

Zagreb Zoo has one of the most romantic stories of how it came into being, and it all began with one man’s vision and just three animals.

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The Zoo is located in Maksimir Park, which was named after Zagreb Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac. The name Maksimir was coined from the phrase ‘Maksimilijanov mir’ (‘Maksimilijan’s peace’), symbolising the bishop’s wish to give the citizens a place to relax and enjoy nature on the site of what had once been the old episcopal forest.

The entire project to build the Zoo was not initiated by the state or a scientific institute, but by the sheer passion of one individual. Mijo Filipović was not a zoologist by profession, but a nature enthusiast who had spent years dreaming of giving Zagreb a window onto the wild. His enthusiasm was so infectious that he managed to get the whole city behind the idea at a time when there were far greater problems to deal with.

It all began on 27 June 1925, when Mijo Filipović, then director of a construction company, managed to convince the then Mayor of Zagreb, Vjekoslav Heinzel, that Zagreb, as a modern European metropolis, needed a zoo. Filipović insisted that the Zoo should be located within Maksimir Park because he wanted it to be more than just a place to look at animals – he wanted it to be a place for science and education. At the time, it was known as the ‘Zoological Museum’.

The Zoo’s first ‘residents’ were not exotic lions or elephants, but three foxes and two polar bears which Mijo Filipović received as a gift. They were housed on a small island in the middle of Maksimir Lake, which is still known today as Swan Island.

Between 1925 and 1926, the Zoo expanded at an astonishing pace. At first, it was not stocked by buying animals; instead, they were donated by citizens. People brought in injured birds, deer they had found, or unusual animals they had acquired while travelling. This created a strong emotional bond between Zagreb’s residents and the Zoo – it was literally ‘theirs’.

In the 1930s, some of the most recognisable structures that still stand today were built. The best known is Lion Bridge, with its lion statues, along with the towers that resemble castles, giving the Zoo a fairytale-like, ‘old Zagreb’ character. A special enclosure for monkeys was soon built as well, and they immediately became the Zoo’s biggest stars. An elephant also arrived during this period, becoming a real attraction.

The Zoo survived the Second World War, but by the end of the 20th century it was in very poor condition, with enclosures that were far too small. Major modernisation did not begin until the 2000s, when the cages were replaced with spacious enclosures designed to imitate the animals’ natural habitats.

The Case of the Zagreb Giraffe

One of the city’s great mysteries is why so many Zagreb residents insist that they saw a giraffe at the Zoo as children. Some remember seeing one, while for others it would have been impossible.

Since its foundation, the Zoo has kept detailed records of all its animals. Even today, its official website states under the ‘Questions and Answers’ section that the Zoo had a giraffe between 1955 and 1960. So after 1960, there was no giraffe at the Zoo. Yet the question remains: how did generations of children later remember seeing a giraffe that was no longer there?

Experts explain this through a phenomenon known as the Mandela Effect in a local context – a situation in which a large number of people share the same, highly specific, but incorrect memory. Experts suggest that there may have been confusion with camels or llamas, as camels and llamas lived for years in the old part of the Zoo, near the entrance. From a child’s perspective, these long-necked animals may have seemed ‘enormous’, and over the years that childhood memory could have transformed into the image of a giraffe.

There is also the influence of collective suggestion. When someone in a position of authority – a parent or an older brother or sister – says, ‘Do you remember how we saw the giraffe here?’, a child’s brain may create a false visual image to fill in the missing information.

The explanation may also be generational. Parents or older brothers and sisters may genuinely have seen a giraffe, while younger members of the family only heard about it.

Furthermore, most children’s ‘Zoo’ toy sets or picture books featured drawings of giraffes as a universal symbol of the zoo, which the brain could later associate with an actual visit.

Today, Zagreb Zoo – or the Wild Heart of the City, as we like to call it – has a historic reputation as the oldest zoo in south-eastern Europe. It ranks among the leading destinations for wildlife lovers in this part of Europe and remains Zagreb’s most popular destination for family walks.