On This Day 9 November 1880: One Of Croatia’s Biggest Ever Earthquakes

9 November 1880 started out just like an other ordinary late autumn day in Croatia’s capital Zagreb. It was 10 degrees with a touch of morning fog. Then at 7:33 it all changed. Zagreb was hit by the one of the biggest earthquakes in the country’s history, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale.

The quake, which lasted roughly 10 seconds, hit not only the center, where it destroyed buildings, churches and graves, it also hit the surrounding suburbs including Sestine, Vrapce, Kustosija, Stenjevec, Bistra, Brdovec, Samobor and Sv. Helena.

Amazingly only 1 person died and 29 were injured. Photographer Ivan Standl captured the battered city on film. Part of his collection is held by the Ministry of Culture who released it in 2010 after a small Zagreb quake. The earthquake forced the city to be rebuilt and modernised with Austrian architect Herman Bolle orchestrating it, writes index.hr.