Story
The story of Zagreb Cathedral
Its twin spires, each over 108 metres tall, can be seen from most of Zagreb, and this is the tallest sacred building in Croatia and the most monumental Gothic church southeast of the Alps. Its history begins in 1094, when the Hungarian king Ladislaus I founded the diocese of Zagreb and chose an existing church on Kaptol as its seat. A true cathedral soon followed, but in 1242 it collapsed almost to the ground in a fire started by the Tatars on their way through Zagreb.
Over the following centuries it was rebuilt in the Gothic style and became a great religious and cultural centre. Then came the 1880 Zagreb earthquake, which destroyed large parts of the building. The architect Hermann Bollé led the restoration that gave it the Neo-Gothic look and the famous spires you see today.
The earth shook again in 2020, damaging one of the spires, and as of 2026 the cathedral is still under reconstruction. It is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and to the king-saints Stephen and Ladislaus.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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