‘From Earthquake to Earthquake 1880-2020’ exhibition opens in Zagreb

Zagreb Cathedral after the 1880 earthquake (Photo: Ivan Standl/public domain)

ZAGREB, Nov 25 (Hina) – An exhibition called “From Earthquake to Earthquake 1880-2020” was opened at the Museum of Arts and Crafts on Tuesday, marking the museum’s 140th anniversary.

Among those attending were President Zoran Milanovic and Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek.

Over the past 150 years, compared with other cities in Europe, Zagreb has actually suffered very little in this earthquake area, an area of unrest, war, suffering, killing. Zagreb has been trampled, destroyed, set on fire, bombed relatively little compared with them, the president said.

“May this which happened at the end of March this year be and remain one of the biggest afflictions we… experienced,” the president said, referring to the March earthquake.

Zagreb is a beautiful city, among the 20 most beautiful in Europe, and it “is waiting to be finally and definitely touched up, which will require a partnership between citizens, owners, the city and the Croatian state,” said Milanovic.

Minister Obuljen Korzinek said the exhibition was aimed at showing people just a small piece of the damage museums and cultural assets in Zagreb sustained in the March earthquake.

Zagreb 2020 (Photo: HINA/Damir SENČAR)

She recalled that the European Parliament decided on Monday to give Croatia €680 million from the Solidarity Fund to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake, including over €100 million intended for the reconstruction of the cultural heritage.

Back on 9 November 1880, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Zagreb, killing one person and destroying and damaging over 1,700 buildings.

The most prominent building damaged was Zagreb Cathedral, which then underwent a thorough reconstruction before it was finally finished in 1906.

According to the Zagreb Meteorological Station data, the earthquake struck at 7:33 a.m. and was followed by a series of tremors of smaller intensity. Records say that 3,800 outgoing tickets were sold at the Zagreb Main Station within the first 24 hours of the initial earthquake, as many locals sought to leave for cities nearby.