Events

Strossmartre Archives

31.05 - 27.09 » ZAGREb TIME MACHINE Step back in time to the days of old Zagreb style, stroll to Zrinjevac Park and each Saturday you can take pleasure in waltz, operettas, Italian canzone, jazz and more. From Tkalčićeva Street to the Cathedral, delve into some traditional foods through song and folklore. The Upper Town dazzles with costumed characters that have come back to life and giving visitors an insight into the way life... once was! The Tourist Information Centre has all the details as events vary throughout the morning and afternoon. Various city centre locationsQwww.infozagreb.hr.

09.06 - 01.09 » STROSSMARTRE - SuMMER ON STROSS Embark on a journey towards the Strossmayer Promenade, next to the Lotrščak Tower and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the range of music, film, theatre, fine art and entertainment on offer. The programme is daily with kick off before midday as the festival runs into the evening. Totally romantic, totally free!QB‑2, Strossmayer Promenade, www.ljetonastrosu.com.

11.06 - 04.09 »ART pARk ZAGREb Visitors can expect numerous workshops, music and film evenings, morning yoga classes, a program dedicated to sustainability and recycling, table tennis, regular vintage flea markets, picnics, exhibitions and presentations by young artists and other programs.QD‑1, Ribnjak Park, www.artparkzagreb.com.

15.06 - 12.09 » TuškANAC SuMMER STAGE Fans of film will once again be able to enjoy a handful of quality movie events and festivals from June to early September at the popular Tuškanac Summer Stage. ‘Snap, camera and action’ as the schedule includes several programs. For more details, visit the Tuškanac Summer Stage Facebook page.QB‑1, Tuškanac Cinema Plateau, Tuškanac 1, www.ljepotu.hr.

04.07 - 01.08 » ExIT THEATRE SuMMER NIGHTS Zagreb can get a little tad quieter at summer as many people are down the coast but according to the EXIT Theatre, ‘the show must go on’… And rightly so as this theatre company aim to provide both locals and visitors with top-quality professional performances throughout the summer. Also from Aug 28 - Sept 9 2021. QB‑3, Arts and Crafts Museum, Trg Republike Hrvatske 10, tel. (+385‑1) 488 21 11, www.teatarexit.hr. 17.08 - 10.09 »AMAdEO SCENE A series of theatrical and musical events is first held in the summer of 2000 in the atrium of the Croatian Natural History Museum, thus paying homage to the first public theatre in Zagreb called the ‘Amadeo Theatre’ opened in 1797. This year’s festival will host various local and world artists.QC‑1, Klovićevi dvori Gal‑ lery, Jezuitski trg 4, tel. (+385‑1) 485 19 26, www. scenaamadeo.hr.

26.08 - 05.09 »MOTOvuN fIlM fESTIvAl Perhaps Croatia’s most famous and most loved film festival of small and independent productions; the films screened at Motovun will be showcased for all guests and aficionados of film.QH‑3, Lauba – The House for People and Art, Baruna Filipovića 23a, tel. (+385‑1) 630 21 15.

17.09 - 23.09 »pIf - 54TH INTERNATIONAl puppET THEATRE fESTIvAl Be sure not to miss PIF, the International Puppet Theatre Festival. The festival was founded in Zagreb in 1968 when, strange though it may seem, a group of supporters of the Esperanto language wanted to organise a cultural event all in the international language. Thus, PIF was born, but puppeteering soon became more exciting than the idea of international utopia, and now the puppeteers use their mother tongues or the international language of puppets! (Oooww! EEEeee!) Performers from all over the world will perform both adults’ and children’s plays.Qwww.pif.hr.

21.09 - 26.09 »ZAGREb dESIGN WEEk Welcome to a series of events and gatherings not only for designers, but art historians, economists, journalists and the general public alike. Lectures, exhibitions, workshops and awards will draw public attention as a promotion of creativity and invention.2021 theme is Resilience. Pop-up concept store brings the best design on the Croatian market — from fashion and jewellery to tableware and furniture.QA‑4, Technical Museum Nikola Tesla, Savska cesta 18, tel. (+385‑1) 484 40 50, www.zagrebdesignweek.com.

14.11 - 21.11 »ZAGREb fIlM fESTIvAl One of the largest international film festivals in Croatia which focuses on new film makers and debut films from across the globe will once again be held at numerous locations. The festival will feature a variety of films as well as educational content for all ages. And in addition to the main competition programme, a number of workshops, panels, lectures and other content intended for both professional and young and aspiring film makers. Qwww.zff.hr.

A moment or two on mArtićevA

SpEARING ITS WAy WESTWARdS fROM THE CITy CENTRE TOWARdS kvATRIć fRuIT ANd vEGETAblE MARkET, MARTIćEVA uLICA WAS TEN yEARS AGO A fAIRly ANONyMOuS STREET WITH A MOdEST SCATTERING Of uNExCITING SHOpS. SuddENly IT’S bECOME THE plACE WHERE EvERybOdy WANTS TO bE, A CENTRE Of uRbAN GRAvITy fIllEd WITH pEOplE MEETING OvER COffEE, SHOppING IN bOuTIquES, OR Idly dREAMING Of buyING A NEARby ApARTMENT.

Photo by Program bar Archives

Martićeva has been fingered by lifestyle journalists and scene-watchers as an up-and-coming location for several years already. Interest in the street began to take off when a pair of new cafés (Mojo and Alfresco) planted their terraces opposite the triangular fountains at Martićeva’s western end, quickly becoming rivals to the traditionally more trendy places in the centre of town.

Zagreb’s Design District, an arts fair-cum-street festival that was held for several years until budgets became tight, used Martićeva as its central focus due to its growing combination of cultural attributes. The small but impressive clutch of modernist buildings either on or just off the street made it a living showcase of Zagreb’s urban twentieth-century, while the number of creative types who lived here or drunk coffee in the street’s cafés gave the place a sense of cultural community. It was, in the eyes of its more enthusiastic propagandists, Zagreb’s idea of an arty neighbourhood. So what makes Martićeva worth visiting in 2021? Acting as something as a social focus to the street is the small park half way along its length, where a statue of Fra Grgo Martić (the nineteenth-century friar, translator and educationalist who gave the street its name) overlooks a small rectangle of crazy paving and rose beds, overlooked by a trio of silver birch trees. It is here that you will find Booksa, the literary club and independent cultural centre that organizes talks, book presentations and other literary events throughout the year. In summer Booksa hold outdoor events in the park itself, bringing a festival vibe to the street. Almost next door to Booksais Program, the eccentric but cool café where most of Martićeva’s creative schoose to take their morning espresso. On the other side of Booksa is the increasingly well-reviewed Pizzeria Park, a relatively new addition to the Martićeva scene - but a crucial one in terms of bringing diners to a location that was previously not known for eating out. Diagonally opposite is Fogg, a post-industrial café-bar that has become a lively hub of evening drinking.

During the lockdown of winter 2020-2021, when the cafes and their terraces were closed, people would bring their take-out coffees to this little park halfway down Martićeva in order to keep a (discreetly distanced) sense of social life going. People wrote articles about it in the press. Martićeva became something of a cult location; it was one of the places where life still went on.

Culture vultures in search of landmark Zagreb buildings should note that Martićeva is also home to the city’s most famous – and indeed most photogenic - example of modernist architecture, the so-called Vitić Skyscraper or Vitićev Neboder. (It’s actually a few metres off Martićeva on the parallel street of Laginjina, although it’s still part of the Martićeva strip). Erected in 1960 to the designs of leading architect Ivan Vitić, it is not exactly a skyscraper in global terms, but is still tall enough to dominate the neighbourhood. What makes it so special is its colour scheme, with squares of primary red and blue chequer-boarding its façade in the manner of a Mondrian painting (indeed Mondrian is aid to be Vitić’s inspiration). Conscientiously restored to its original appearance in 2020, it is an enduring monument to post-war optimism, and a magnificent slap in the face to anyone who thinks that the architecture of the period is all about grey brutalism. And if there is one building in Zagreb that you should take a picture of, this is it.

Equally innovative, and still strikingly modern almost 65 years after its construction, is Drago Ibler’s so-called Wooden Skyscraper or Drveni neboder at Martićeva’s western end. Combining reinforced concrete and timber, it’s another source of modernist inspiration to young architects today.

The role of Martićeva as a place to do your shopping is relatively new, although its proximity to Kvatrić fruit and vegetable market has always ensured that it is a route well travelled, especially for people with food on their minds. Boutique bakery Korica at no. 19 sells own-baked, additive-free bread alongside an eminently nibble some selection of croissants, sandwiches, quiches and cakes. Pekara Kuraž, in Kvatrić market itself, is renowned throughout the city for its succulent orahnjača (swirly walnut cake) and makovnjača (poppy-seed cake).

Martićeva’s reputation as a gathering-point for creatives and taste-makers is reflected in a handful of upscale florists and fashion boutiques. Garderoba Concept Store at no.17 sells haute couture with a creative twist; a glance through the window will tell you whether you fit their demographic or not. For unique designer threads of great originality (including some cosmic knitwear) take a peek inside the cute atelier-cum-shop of Nataša Mihaljčišin on the corner of Martićeva and Bauerova.

With warmer weather approaching and outdoor terraces coming into their own, Martićeva will once again be coming in to its own.