Jelacic Square (Trg bana), Zagreb

Zagreb’s main square "Trg Bana Jelacica" (a "trg" - pronounced "turg" - is a square, often a marketplace)is the vibrant heart of the Croatian capital and it’s a fine place in the Austro-Hungarian tradition, not dissimilar to squares you might find in cities like Vienna. It’s pretty hard to miss the square because it serves a number of functions; it’s a major hub for tram services, it is an ideal and convenient place to meet people, it contains a couple of important monuments and it’s close to a number of important and popular attractions, and it effectively forms the buffer between old town and nineteenth century Zagreb. Throw in that it is where you’ll find the main tourist information office and you can see why it’s almost impossible to miss.

If you arrive in the square from the direction of the train station, do take care as you cross the tramlines: the trams can sometimes be quite quiet as they approach and, although the driver will sound a warning, you could get quite a surprise.

The square is named for Josip Jelacic, a Croatian hero and viceroy who defeated the Hungarians in an uprising in 1848, although there has been a square of sorts in this location since the seventeenth century. There is a statue of the man himself on horseback which is more or less the main focal point in the square. His sword is raised and pointing towards Hungary; when the statue was installed in 1866 some councillors thought this was not appropriate but clearly this objection was not sustained. The statue was removed, however, in 1947 because the new socialist government regarded Jelacic as an Austrian collaborator and symbolic of Croatian nationalism which not good when Tito was trying to unite the Slavs; the square was according named trg Republike. Fortunately a gallery curator kept it hidden and in 1990, after Croatians voted for independence from Yugoslavia, Jelacic’s role in history was reconsidered as important and the statue was therefore reinstalled.

Another trg Bana Jelacica monument also has an interesting history – the Mandusevac fountain. In 1987 the World Student Games were held in Zagreb and a great deal of work was done to tidy up the city. Some workmen unearthed an old stream - the MedvešÄÂ