Sun City

A Solar System in the heart of Zagreb? A little known fact about the heart of Croatia’s capital is that its downtown is home to the sun, eight planets and the moon – in an artistic sense anyway.

In 1971 contemporary artist Ivan Kozaric created a large golden sphere, named the “Grounded Sun”, on Bogoviceva street amidst a host of bars, cafes and restaurants in downtown Zagreb. The large feature stirred up locals at the time but it did inspire one particular artist, Davor Preis, to come up with an idea.

Preis’ idea was to create a “Solar System” around the “Grounded Sun”. In 2004 he made metal sphere shaped monuments of all the planets of the Solar System and placed them around Zagreb’s city centre, with their sizes and distances from Kozaric’s “Grounded Sun” in exact proportion to the real solar system.

The sun is now a unmissable feature of downtown Zagreb and tourists looking for something to do can also go on a “planet” hunt around the romantic streets in the countries capital.