The Courtyards: Zagreb’s award-winning tourist attraction back again this summer

by croatiaweek
March 28, 2019
in Entertainment

Once again this summer, The Courtyards will tell stories about Zagreb never experienced before.

During ten unforgettable days in July, visitors have a unique opportunity to peek behind the facades of some of the most beautiful palaces of Zagreb’s Upper Town and experience the genuine magic of these unique venues.

Every courtyard has its own story and the gates to some of Croatia’s most spectacular palaces will be opened up to the public again. As well as having a first hand look around these impressive parts of Zagreb history, there will be first class urban entertainment, delicious snacks, refreshing drinks and superb music artists, from jazz and classics to pop.

“A cool urban event with soul” and ”a project that Zagreb has not had before”, are just two among many superlatives that follow the project from the beginning. And its success is also confirmed with two prestigious awards for the most creative and innovative project in Croatian tourism.

The Courtyards give you many good reasons to enjoy beauty of Zagreb and its Upper Town.

Locations:

Balbi Palace

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Old Church Slavonic Institute, baroque palace and the courtyard with the only one preserved pulley water well in the Upper Town, among old Zagreb townspeople also known as the Balbi’s Palace, after its last private owner Baroness Kornelija Balbi.

Erdödy-Drašković Palace

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National Archive in Zagreb, which safeguards famous charters and other valuable documents from the city and county’s past, the palace was the childhood home of the first Croatian prima donna, the Countess Sidonija Erdödy Rubido, with everyday house life bursting out of every crevice of the courtyard till the mid-20th century – clothes hanging from clothes lines, the whole space echoing with children’s laughter, even chicken’s running freely.

Family Milovac Private Courtyard

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The location where Rudolf Matz, famous Croatian composer and cellist was born, where celebrated Croatian composer Vatroslav Lisinski’s great love Hedviga Ban lived, and where by the legend the first Croatian opera “Love and Malice” by Vatroslav Lisinski was composed.

Gvozdanović Palace

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Inside one of the most beautiful streets in the city, behind a seemingly ordinary facade stands one of the hidden gems of Zagreb Upper Town – the townhouse of the Gvozdanović family. At the beginning of the 20th century, the palace played host to numerous soirees, concerts, dances and garden parties, organized by the palace’s last private owner Anka Gvozdanović, pianist and art lover. Over time the palace was bustling with all the friends the family wished to entertain, and in fact became one of the focal points of the city’s social and cultural life. Anka Gvozdanović gave the palace as a gift to the citizens of Zagreb in 1966, under the condition that it remained conserved as an ambience museum in its entirety; the palace and its collection are under the auspices of the Museum of Arts and Crafts.

Private courtyard

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The street that was once called Duga (‘long street’) and since 1928 Ulica Pavla Radića, had a reputation as the most vibrant vendor street of the 19th century Zagreb. It served not only as a connection between Gradec and the surrounding neighborhoods, but also to mountain Medvednica and the villages on its slopes. Not many know that the ground floor of the house was once the home of August Šenoa’s father – “the pastry chef of Kaptol”, Vjekoslav Šenoa, esteemed pastry chef of the archbishop’s palace, a position he was invited to by the bishop Aleksandar Alagović. The house was also once the dwelling place of esteemed Croatian author, dramatist, revivalist and one of the founders of the Croatian theatre – Dimitrija Demeter (1811-1872), who lived and died here.