Back in 2022, I started a project with the goal of photographing every street, square, and park in Zagreb. I’ve been photographing Zagreb for over 15 years, and I needed a new challenge. At that time, I had several ongoing projects – some still active – but Mapping Zagreb was in a different league. I knew this project would last for years, but it was exciting knowing I was gradually gathering photos of the entire city.
When I was younger (much younger), I used to play computer games, and one of my favorite genres were strategy games – specifically, I LOVED Age of Empires. You might be wondering, what does that have to do with this project? Well, in Age of Empires, you’d develop your skills, care for your village/town/kingdom, and slowly expand across the map. When I open my Google Maps, where I mark the parts of the city I’ve photographed, it feels like I’m conquering the map just as I once did in Age of Empires. The biggest difference is my weapon – I use only my camera.
Because of other projects, especially Croatia Captured, my time is spread across various activities. However, while reviewing project statistics from the last three years (with the help of GPT, of course), I was surprised by the numbers. In 2024, I conquered the biggest part of the map yet!
Red color above shows places I’ve photographed, yellow color marks locations that are probably next, and the black is after the yellow.
- 2022 – 463 locations (3,544 photos)
- 2023 – 76 locations (691 photos)
- 2024 – 587 locations (5,275 photos)
1,126 locations overall
(Location = street/square/park)
Zagreb is divided into city quarters (gradska četvrt), which are further divided into local committees (mjesni odbor). Below is a list of the top 10 most photographed city quarters:
- Trnje – 252 locations photographed
- Donja Dubrava – 173 locations photographed
- Donji grad – 170 locations photographed
- Trešnjevka – Sjever – 152 locations photographed
- Peščenica – Žitnjak – 122 locations photographed
- Trešnjevka – Jug – 83 locations photographed
- Novi Zagreb – Istok – 60 locations photographed
- Maksimir – 51 locations photographed
- Gornja Dubrava – 46 locations photographed
- Novi Zagreb – Zapad – 17 locations photographed
(Location = street/square/park)
I’m sharing this because the project is going to be on hold for a bit. My goal is to capture photos during spring, summer, or autumn. In the coming weeks, the city will be decorated for Christmas, and trees will lose their leaves, which doesn’t make for the most appealing shots. For that reason, the project will be paused until spring. I might complete one or two more local committees, but that’s a small chance for that.
As always, feel free to check out fotografijezagreba.hr, where you’ll find all these photos and over 100,000 other photos of Zagreb.
