The Bloody Bridge
The name of the bridge between the two rival hills, from the brawls there.
Donatus Darko Tepert — CC BY-SA 4.0 · lienyuan lee — CC BY 3.0 · lienyuan lee — CC BY 3.0 · Modzzak — CC BY-SA 3.0
A Franciscan monastery and church in Zagreb's Kaptol district, a short distance from the cathedral, with the order present here since the thirteenth century. Kaptol is one of the two hills on which Zagreb grew: it was an ecclesiastical settlement around the cathedral under the bishop's authority, while the opposite hill, Gradec, was a free trading town with its own self-government. The two settlements lived for centuries as rivals in dispute, separated by a stream whose bridge was called the Bloody Bridge for the number of brawls that took place there. They were not united into one city until 1850. That explains the shape of old Zagreb today: two centres rather than one. The monastery suffered fires and earthquakes repeatedly and was rebuilt, its present form dating from nineteenth-century restorations. The Kaptol buildings including the cathedral were damaged in the Zagreb earthquake of 2020, and repair work continues. It is a working place of worship with normally free entry; check what is open.
The name of the bridge between the two rival hills, from the brawls there.
Kaptol under the bishop, Gradec a free town with self-government.
The shape of old Zagreb today reflects that old division.
Kaptol, near Zagreb Cathedral
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake that struck Zagreb in March 2020, on the same day the city was under Covid lockdown. Hundreds of historic buildings in the Upper Town and Kaptol were damaged, and one of the cathedral's spires partly collapsed. Human casualties were low but the architectural damage was extensive, and restoration in the old town is still under way years later — you will find scaffolding and fenced streets.
Zagreb Cathedral — check its restoration status — and the Dolac market below it, then climb to Gradec: St Mark's church with its coloured tiled roof, the Lotrščak Tower whose cannon fires every noon, and the Museum of Broken Relationships. The funicular between the two towns is among the shortest in the world.
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