On the way, I stopped at a lovely outlook in the upper town, and while I was there took a couple of shots:
As photography wasn't allowed, I have had to resort to sourcing a few images from the web (I highly recommend clicking on the images for a large version to get a better view):
But, they did have a retrospective on Croatian artist Miroslav Kraljevic (1885 - 1913); who had a very busy year the last year of his life - he was dying of tuberculosis. Of all of his works, this one (Lena) was my favourite, so took a photo (which was allowed - without flash, of course):
Here are a couple of other things that Croats are proud of:
Croatia is the home of the necktie; during the 30 Years' War, Croatian
soldiers in the service of France wore exotic scarves around their necks, which caught the eye of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and the necktie soon became a fashion hit all over Europe.At the beginning of the 20th Century, a resident of Zagreb by the name of Penkala developed a fountain pen that soon replaced the need for pens with a separate ink bottle, which was a hit, and Zagreb became a global centre of production.
This is a vast complex, and even the entrance (shown in the photo) is monumental. Interestingly, there were a number of vendors outside the gates selling flowers and candles and the like; also, at one of the gates there was an ad for coffins - a bit odd, but kind of appropriate in terms of placement!
Most of the plots are family plots, with some having names of 2-3 generations on them (the cemetery was opened in 1876, so not much opportunity for too many more generations); probably the weirdest thing for me was to see headstones with names on them without a date, or just with the birthdate and a dash: so "here will lie ..."
The cemetery is home to the German War Soldiers cemetery, from WWII - it is a lovely patch, very nicely presented. Interestingly, there is no reference to WWII, but instead to the "German-Croatian War": somehow appropriate for it to be brought home to its effects on the local population, because that's who was at war.
And that is it for Zagreb, Croatia, and the Balkans - off to Budapest (Hungary) tomorrow morning.