Graduation Project in Tkalčićeva Street – Sundial

A Bit of Background

Right where the Melinski canal used to flow into the Medveščak stream, at today’s number 23 Tkalčićeva Street, there used to be the southernmost mill. After they covered up the stream and canal in 1899, the mill building at number 23 was torn down, and they made a small square.

That’s where you’ll find the Marija Jurić Zagorka monument today, and right behind it, on the facade of the Golli house, you’ll see the sundial. The Golli house itself was built in the early 19th century, and its first owner was a hatmaker named Martinus Golli.

Graduation thesis

After World War II, they turned the site of the former mill into a small square. In 1954, someone had the idea to put a sundial there. The pentagon-shaped dial was incorporated into the facade of the Golli house.

Professor Ernest Tomašević arranged for his student, Božidar Jušić, who was finishing up at the Academy of Applied Arts, to design the sundial. That was actually his graduation project. Professor Leo Randić did the calculations for the dial, and Jušić was also helped by his classmates Lidija Laforest and Valerija Baho, and his future wife, Melita.

Even though the colors are pretty faded now, the dial was originally painted with rainbow colors on fresh plaster, using a fresco technique.

Fun Fact

There are two other older sundials still around in Zagreb:

• one in the courtyard of Gallery Klovićevi Dvori from the 17th century,
• and another in the courtyard of the Zagreb City Museum.

But this sundial, even though it’s the youngest, has become one of the city’s symbols, mostly because it’s located right on busy Tkalčićeva Street.