Ban Jelačić Square

Introduction

Ban Jelacic Square is the heart of Zagreb, directly south of the twin old town cores of Gradec and Kaptol and the centre of the Lower Town pedestrian zone. Laid out as a market in 1641, it was first called Mandusevec and later Harmica, from the Hungarian for a one-thirtieth tax on goods sold there, before taking its present name in 1848 for Josip Jelacic, the ban (viceroy) of Croatia. The equestrian statue at its centre, by the Austrian sculptor Anton Dominik Fernkorn and erected in 1866, shows Jelacic on the white horse Emir, a gift from Mahmud-beg Basic of Bihac that served as Fernkorn's model, his right arm extended with a drawn sabre; the pedestal carries a 'Ban Jelacic 1848' plaque at the front and the Croatian coat of arms at the back. Removed in 1947 by Yugoslavia's communist authorities, who called him a 'servant of foreign interests', the statue spent decades hidden in a gallery cellar by its curator, and returned on 16 October 1990, Jelacic's birthday, reoriented from its original northward facing to the south - away from Hungary and toward his own people. A car-free zone since 1975, the square is crossed by day by tram lines 1, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 17. At its eastern end the Mandusevac fountain sits over an underground spring that supplied Zagreb's drinking water until the mid-19th century; the city's very name is traced to a cry of 'Mando, duso, zagrabi!' - Manda, my dear, scoop! This is the city's standing appointment point - 'under the clock', 'under the horse's tail' and beside the fountain - and its Advent Christmas market was voted Europe's best three years running from 2016, drawing more than a million visitors.

✨ Highlights

🛈 Practical Info