Upper Town Memorials
Scattered across the cobblestone corners, quiet courtyards, and leafy avenues of the Upper Town and its surrounding hills are dozens of small, elegant tablets.
These memorial plaques (spomen-ploče) are Zagreb’s way of keeping its history alive. They mark the homes where poets fell in love, where political visionaries drafted revolutions, classical masters played, and artists found quiet inspiration under the glow of gas lamps.
As someone who is endlessly in love with this city, one of my favorite weekend rituals is stepping off the main tourist paths and following these stone footnotes. Join me on a peaceful walking route from the historic lane of Nova Ves, up through the heart of the Upper Town, and into the romantic curve of Jurjevska street.
Nova Ves: a street of canons and literary giants 
Photo: Fotografije Zagreba
Our walk begins at Nova Ves, a long historic street originally settled in the 14th century by cathedral canons and clergy.
At number 50, you’ll spot a stone plaque dedicated to Dobriša Cesarić (1902-1980), one of Croatia’s most cherished 20th-century poets. His simple, melancholic verses about urban rain, autumn evenings, and street lamps capture the quiet soul of Zagreb. Standing right outside his former front door, you can almost see him walking home through the evening fog.
Further up the street at number 70, stop outside the former home of August Cesarec (1893-1941), the influential interwar writer, poet, and political activist. The ground floor beneath his apartment holds a double layer of local nostalgia: it was long home to Pekara Trajković, which baked fresh bread in a traditional wood-fired oven for nearly a century.
Stone Gate, Demetrova, and Opatička Street: literary echoes and revolutionary thinkers
Photo: Fotografije Zagreba
From Nova Ves, walk south toward Radićeva Street and head up toward the medieval Stone Gate (Kamenita Vrata).
Just as you pass through the Stone Gate into the Upper Town, look to your right. Tucked in a niche on the wall at number 5 stands a delicate bronze statue of Dora Krupićeva. Dora is the beloved fictional heroine of August Šenoa’s famous 1877 historical novel Zlatarovo zlato (The Goldsmith’s Treasure). Holding a set of keys, she marks the spot where her fictional father, the city’s master goldsmith, lived and guarded Gradec’s gates in the 16th century. From here, walk up the street until it opens into St. Mark’s Square. Walk across the square, keeping St. Mark’s church on your right, and enter Demetrova Street!
Here, pause at number 11. A plaque marks the home of Dimitrije Demeter (1811-1872), the Croatian writer, playwright, theater director and a prominent leader of the 19th century Illyrian Revival. If you’re a theater aficionado, take a moment to enjoy the fact you’re standing in front of a house where he lived and worked for decades, shaping the foundations of modern Croatian theater.
If you continue walking north, you’ll soon find yourself at an intersection facing the Zagreb City Museum. As soon as you turn right onto Opatička, you’ll find yourself at number 16, where a plaque commemorates Josipa pl. Vancaš (1824-1910), affectionately known as Majčica Ilira (“Mother of the Illyrians”). Her home was a famous 19th-century literary salon where Croatia’s leading cultural figures, poets and patriots regularly gathered to shape the country’s national cultural revival.
Jurjevska Street: the literary spine of Zagreb
Photo: Fotografije Zagreba
Leaving Opatička behind, stroll past Ilirski Trg and step into Jurjevska ulica. Widely considered one of the most romantic streets in Zagreb, Jurjevska winds uphill lined with grand 19th-century villas, lush gardens, and an extraordinary density of plaques dedicated to people who lived and died there.
Number 5 hosts two remarkable memorial tablets on a single facade. One honors Ivan Mažuranić (1814-1890), the celebrated poet and Croatian Ban (governor) who lived in this house from 1880 until his death a decade later. Right beside it is a plaque for his granddaughter, Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874-1938), widely known as the “Croatian Hans Christian Andersen”, who spent her youth living in this exact grandfatherly home before her marriage in 1892.
A few doors up, pause at Jurjevska 10. This was the residence where A. G. Matoš (1873-1914), Zagreb’s iconic bohemian writer and critic, lived with his family and spent his final years before his untimely death. His passionate, bittersweet romance with Zagreb gave birth to some of the finest literary descriptions of the city ever written.
Further up the winding street at number 30, is a plaque in honor and memory of Vatroslav Lisinski (1819-1854), the tragic musical genius who composed the first Croatian national opera, Ljubav i zloba (Love and Malice). Here Lisinski spent his last days and passed away in poverty. Even though the house where he died has since been torn down and another built in its place, the memorial plaque still keeps a bit of history alive.
To close your walk, continue up Jurjevska until the road opens into Perivoj srpanjskih žrtava (Park of the July Victims). Once the site of the Old Jurjevsko Cemetery, the grounds were closed in 1876 following the opening of Mirogoj. As tombs were moved or cleared over time, the site transformed into a serene public park where a few weathered gravestones are still kept, offering a peaceful spot to reflect on the lives of the writers, composers, and patriots whose former homes you passed along the route.
Every plaque on these old facades is a reminder of a real life, of a once-beating heart that helped shape Zagreb. What we’ve covered here is only a small fraction of the stories written into these historic walls. There are many more plaques, subtle details, and hidden corners along and near this very route just waiting to be noticed.
You don’t always need a museum ticket to understand the soul of this city. Sometimes, all it takes is a comfortable pair of walking shoes, an open mind, and a curious eye scanning the historic facades of the Upper Town.
Header image credit: Fotografije Zagreba
Author: Ivana Vučković