Vlaška ulica

Make no mistake, the name of one of the oldest streets in Zagreb did not originate from being populated by people from the Dalmatian hinterland, but rather its name comes from the Latin term Vicus Latinorum, which translates as the Village of the Latins (in Kajkavian dialect, Laška Ves / Laška ulica (Latins Street)), which is believed to have existed as early as the 8th century. Rapid development of the street in the 18th and 19th centuries was driven by craftsmen of various trades – furriers, cobblers, bootmakers, and tailors – who lived in Laška Ves and the street’s design was also overseen by the Archbishop of Zagreb, Maksimilijan Vrhovac.

Interestingly, in 1870, residents of Vlaška ulica submitted a petition to the City Administration requesting action to resolve a frog-related problem, as croaking of countless frogs in the nearby pond troubles them. At that time, the Medveščak stream ran along part of Vlaška ulica. In 1898, the stream was redirected to the Ribnjak valley and at the beginning of the 20th century, a major reconstruction took place in Stara Vlaška ulica, leading to disappearance of one of the oldest parts of the city, which had once been well-known to Zagreb residents for its Biela ruža and Medičarski podrum pub.

In the 19th century, a military hospital was built on the bishop’s land, which opened as “Garnizonsspital Nr. 23 in Agram” at number 87 and operated at that location until 1988, when the hospital moved to Dubrava. Today, a music education school is located in this space.

Croatian novelist August Šenoa was born in Vlaška ulica in 1838. In his honour, a bronze monument was erected at the intersection of Vlaška ulica and Branjugova ulica created by Marija Ujević Galetović on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth. It is worth mentioning that between 1835 and 1875, where the monument now stands, there had been an obelisk placed by the Bishop of Zagreb Alagović to commemorate completion of the landscaping of the bishop’s park Ribnjak.

Vlaška ulica ends at Kvaternikov trg, which came to be at the beginning of the 20th century as a peripheral part of the city – Međašni trg, location of a customs post.

In June of 2022, part of Stara Vlaška ulica was transformed into a pedestrian zone (from Draškovićeva ulica to Palmotićeva ulica), and a more permanent transformation was announced in April 2024 with the results of a competition for the design of urban planning and architectural layout. The newly renovated street is expected to be unveiled in the spring of 2025, when the first-place award-winning design by the architectural studio Atmosfera is set to be completed.

Architectural achievements from the late 18th to the late 20th century in Vlaška ulica can be viewed on the website Arhitektura Zagreba (arhitektura-zagreba.com).

Sources:

Zagreb Architecture https://www.arhitektura-zagreba.com/ulice/vlaska

Šenoa house https://kuca.senoa.eu/naslovna

Povijest.hr https://povijest.hr/hrvatska/tko-su-vlasi-iz-vlaske-ulice/#google_vignette