Zagreb skylines and views
- Upper Town, Lower Town, Cibona Tower, Zagrebcanka, Zagrebtower, Westin, Best Westin Astoria, Lotrscak Tower, Eurotower, Cathedral, TV Tower, St Marys Church, St Marks Church, Strojanska Business Center, Mimara Museum
Zagreb has fairly many modern highrises or “skyscrapers” for a European city, many of them are hotels and office buildings in glass and steel. Most of them are spread out throught the outskrits of Lower Town or Novi Zagreb (New Zagreb). There is a 17-storey 60m high modern glass “skyscraper” at Ilica street, Ilica 1, near Ban Jelačić Square as well, that features a 360 degree observation deck on top called Zagreb 360 (currently closed due to covid, 2021). Zagreb TV tower (169m), Croatia’s tallest tower, stands on the Sljeme peak of the highest mountain, Medvednica, which highest point is at 1035m, situated North of Zagreb. Zagreb TV Tower was built in 1976 and in 1991 it withstood a Yugoslav bomb attack! It is quite complicated to go there, it takes over 2 hours from the city center.
The tallest building in Zagreb and 2nd tallest in Croatia, is the gothic Zagreb Cathedral (in Kaptol, Upper Town) with its two spires that are 108m tall, damaged in the 2020 earthquake, and removed for repair.
The official tallest highrise building, or "skyscraper", in Zagreb is the Strojanska Business Center - Bldg B, a black glass tower with colourful curtains, part of a business complex. It was completed in 2015 and is situated right next to the Central Bus Station, East of downtown. It has 26 floors and is 96.2m to the top of the roof, only 0.2 m taller then the Zagreb's 2nd tallest highrise, Eurotower 1 from 2006, also a boxy glass building. The much older Zagrebcanka from 1976 is 3rd tallest with 94.6m. If you count the mast, the Cibona Tower is Zagreb's tallest. It is a curved glass building in the West edge of Zagreb, where you also find some of the other tall buildings. This 22-storey highrise is 92.5m tall to the roof and 109m to the top of the mast, it was built in 1987. Other notable highrises are Zagrebtower from 2006, the futuristic curved glass Sky Towers from 2012, the five Porecka modernist residential highrises from 1980 and the 20-storey Panorama Hotel from 1967, the tallest hotel in Croatia.
The tallest skyscraper in Croatia is in Split, the 2nd largest city (Westgate Tower B, 135m).
The views in the photos are taken from Lotrščak Tower and the two hotels we were staying at, The Westin Zagreb (from the 15th floor, it has 17 floors and is Zagreb's 2nd tallest hotel) and the Best Western Premier Hotel Astoria (from the top, 6th floor), and some from ground level and various other spots. Lotrščak Toweris a 13th century tower that stands on a hill on Gradec (Upper Town) and since 1877, a cannon has been fired every day at 12 o’clock…until recently. Since the 2020 earthquakes it has been silent. The tower is really a hidden gem, few people know about it but if you climb the stairs the views of the city are amazing, 360 degrees. During our visit no other tourists were visiting.
