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Hi there! If you have been roaming around the Upper Town visiting the important instutions and historical sites... there must be one more thing some of you had visited but were curious about it... or just passed by not noticing anything.
I would like to share a few words, personal experience and some urban legends about one of the oldest preserved places and monuments of the medieval Zagreb. And these are about our Kamenita vrata or the Stone Gate.
How to reach them?
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There are two main ways the visitors can reach them and one of these is most likely going to be yours!
You can start your journey from the Main square, walk and climb up through Radićeva Street until you reach the little square with a sculpture of some guy (a knight) riding a horse and the stairs. Once you climb up the stairs you might notice a few benches and one beggar. You will be now at the northern entrance of the Stone Gate. Congratulations!
The other way to reach them is by entering them from the western side. To do this you will most likely come from the direction of the Square of St Marcus (Markov trg) down the following Kamenita Ulica (which is actually Stone Street). Now the main part.
About the place and the urban legend
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The whole thing is not that big and is not a name for the gates of some fortress. Rather it is a passage today that actually used to serve as the Eastern gate of the walls of medieval town Gradec. If you remember the story of Kaptol and Gradec, the two settlements that later joined into modern Zagreb and are the historic cores of the capital, Gradec was the part with the merchants and what we could call today as "ordinary citizens". Whereas on the other side on another hill was Kaptol with the bishops and priests. Throughout the history they did not like each other much.
But that is not of importance for our Stone Gate right now. What you are going to notice for sure is that there are lots of lit candles, in one corner a few benches for prayers (and always several people praying there in silence, mostly seniors), walls with tiles and engraved messages in the honor of the Virgin Mary and... the painting of Virgin Mary.
What is all this about?
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There are both some superficial and true events here. According to the urban legend there fire broke in the first half of the 18th century in the Upper Town and everything here made from wood was destroyed. Except for... you are right! Everything except for the painting of the Holy Mother of God, Virgin Mary. Thus the citizens turned this place into a shrine to her honour and it remained so until these days. The big fire really broke out in 1731 and as for the miracle that happened here I leave the conclusions to my readers.
In the middle of the passage there is a chapel of Virgin Mary
What else should I add? Apart from the boring facts from history such as these gates dating back to the 13th century there is one much more intersting thing. On the western wall or the entrance you will find on the right side of the gates a sculpture of a young woman.
That young woman is Dora Krupićeva, a character from the novel 'The Goldsmith's Treasure' written by August Šenoa. She and her family lived close to the gates. There is also "Šenoina bakery" right there.
Well, that is everything. If you have visited the place let me know about your thoughts, if you have any.
And thanks for reading!
