Church of St. Catherine in Zagreb
The Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria is a real gem of Baroque architecture in Zagreb. It is located on Katarina Zrinski Square.
The Jesuits went into town back in 1606, and just a year later, they were running a school up here in the Upper Town. The church was built between 1620 and 1632. Before this, on the same location was a little Dominican church, but it was a bit rough around the edges, and doubled as a military storeroom. The Jesuits needed a bigger church. So, they built this beauty and they built a monastery next door, which is now the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery.
In the 17th century, the church caught fire twice. In 1674, it was basically a pile of ashes. But the local bigwigs stepped up and helped rebuild. So they got the rights to put their family coats of arms up in the church and be buried here. We’ve even got two Croatian Bans, Franjo Vlašić and Ignacije Gjulaj, resting here.
It’s built in early Baroque style. It is a single-nave church with a barrel vault ceiling, supported by thick wall pillars. And the spaces between the pillars are chapels, each with some stunning 17th-century wooden altars and one marble one from 1729.
The marble altar of St. Ignatius is a masterpiece by Francesco Robba, a Slovenian sculptor.
The main wooden altar went up in 1762. and illusionistic fresco behind it, “St. Catherine Among the Alexandrian Philosophers and Writers.” was a gift from the Erdödy family, painted by Andrija Ilovšek. His father Franjo Jelovšek (Ilovšek) painted the celling.
After the Jesuits went out of the city in 1773, the church became the university church.
The 1880 Zagreb earthquake hit this place hard, but thankfully, the vault held. The restoration was done by Hermann Bollé in 1896, giving the Neo-Baroque facade its current look. Another complete restoration was from 1978 to 1993. It brought back its former glory, and became a must-see site, especially for weddings, with those fresh colors.
It was the perfect place for concerts because the acoustics are amazing. They fixed up the organ in 2018.
But, sadly, the 2020 Zagreb earthquake hit hard. The vault’s cracked, the stucco’s falling, and it’s closed for now.
You can see the extent of the damage to the church at the Church’s Photo Gallery.
Location
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is situated on the slopes of Medvednica mountain, in the Carpathian Basin, and on the banks of the Sava river. Zagreb has a rich and diverse history, culture, and architecture that reflect its long and turbulent past.
ExploreBaroque
One of the most remarkable periods in Croatian art history is the Baroque, which lasted from the 17th to the late 18th century. During this time, Croatia was reunited with the parts of its territory that were occupied by the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire, after centuries of fragmentation and division. This reunification not only brought political stability and economic prosperity but also stimulated a cultural revival and a flourishing of art in every segment.
ExploreHistoricism
Historicism is marked with building three large churches: the neo-Romanesque cathedral in Đakovo (K. Roesner and F. Schmidt, 1882), monumental parish church of St Peter and Paul in Osijek (1898) and neo-gothic rebuilding of Zagreb cathedral with glazed roof tiles and 105 m tall towers (Herman Bolle, 1880–1902). At the end of 19th century Herman Bolle undertook one of the largest projects of European historicism, a half-kilometer long neo-Renaissance arcade with twenty domes on Zagreb cemetery Mirogoj.
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