Tunnel Grič is the most famous city tunnel and only one open to the public
Tunnel Grič was built during World War II in 1943 as a shelter from increasingly frequent bombings. During the Croatian War for independence in the nineties of the last century this tunnel has once again served as a shelter for residents from the city center, and has later became known as the venue of the first "true" Zagreb rave party.Tunnel Grič has nowdays become a new tourist and local attraction of Zagreb and a place for a refreshing walk literally through the center of the city.
One of the many legends associated with the coat of arms of the Zagreb city are doors that show the entrance to its covert underground passages. By that coat of arms we do not mean on today's, but the one that can be seen on the roof of the St. Mark Church on whom is (at the bottom below the fortress with three doors) painted another entrance. For that entrance legend says that it marks the entrance to the corridors which are interweaving under the Upper Town.
Old coat of arms of the Zagreb city on the right side
Exactly these corridors were hiding heroine of the novel Grič Witch which was written by well known Croatian writer Marija Jurić Zagorka. Legend also says that most of these underground corridors disappeared in the great earthquake in 1880, with the church gold and gold from the old Zagreb's goldsmiths that was there guarded.
The old rules of behavior on the walls of the tunnel
Digging the "secret" corridors at the foot of the Upper Town is nothing new for Zagreb citizens. Tunnel Grič, which connects Mesnićka and Radićeva street, today you can enter from Mesnićka street or through two entrances in the current Art Park below Lotršćak Tower. Tunnel Grič is the most famous city tunnel and only one open to the public.