Zagreb Cathedral

Shortly after the founding of the diocese in Zagreb (around 1094), the construction of a table church in the transitional Romanesque-Gothic style began. Construction took a long time and was not completed and dedicated until 1217. It was soon badly damaged by the Tatar invasions (1242), but Bishop Timothy (1263-1287) began to thoroughly restore it in the Gothic style. Restoration continued in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 16th century the cathedral was fortified with walls and towers, and in the 17th century it got its massive Renaissance tower.

Fires and the onslaught of the enemy damaged it several times, but the heaviest blow hit it in the earthquake of 1880. After the earthquake, a thorough reconstruction of the cathedral was carried out in the neo-Gothic style (1880-1906), according to the designs of the builder F. Schmidt and under the direction of Hermann Bollé. Then the Zagreb cathedral got its present form with two slender towers, a high roof, new pillars in the sanctuary and altars that replaced the baroque ones from the 18th century.

Instead of the old tombs of bishops and nobles, a new tomb was built for the Zagreb shepherds behind the main altar. Along with other greats, the Croatian martyrs Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan, whose bones were brought here in 1919 from Wiener Neu Stadt, Ivan Antun Zrinski, Eugen Kvaternik, etc., rest here. The last three Zagreb archbishops are also buried there. : staffs of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, Franjo šeper and Franjo Kuharić.