Kamenita Vrata Zagreb

Mum on Ban Jelacic Square
see all photos »

After a couple of days resting at home and enjoying the cafes nearby in Tresnjevka, today we decided to get into Zagreb and have a little walk around.

Ana, Val & I took the tram from Tresnjevka to Ban Jelacic Square and walked around the main square, had coffee and went into a bookstore and bought some books for Declan.

Wheres the procession?

We heard that later in the evening there would be a procession from the Cathedral to Kamenita Vrata, a religious procession celebrating a portrait of the Virgin Mary & Jesus.

The little chapel in Kamenita Vrata
see all photos »

As the story goes, in 1731 a fire destroyed much of this area, burning all the houses to the ground. The gate displayed a painting of Mary and Jesus which was "miraculously" undamaged by the fire. To protect the painting a chapel was built and the painting remains behind a metal grille. The painting is visited regularly by people who come to pray and leave gifts.

The Stone Gate (Kamenita Vrata) in Zagreb's Gornji Grad is the last remaining of five gates which once stood there. They were the entrances through the walls around Gradec, the district next to Kaptol. The Stone Gate, which was the eastern Gate to Gradec town, was built in the 13th Century

The little chapel in Kamenita Vrata
see all photos »

We walked around Gornji Grad and took in the views from near Lotrščak Tower (where since 1877 the canon is fired daily to mark midday) and had coffee nearby.

After waiting almost 3 hours for the procession to start (it was supposed to start at 6pm and started at 9pm!) we decided to go home. However, whilst waiting for the tram on Ban Jelacic square the processiona started, making its way past us from the Zagreb Cathedral up to the Kamenita Vrata where we had just come from!

All in all we really enjoyed ourselves and had a wonderful walk.