The tiled roof everyone photographs, on a square you can stand in but not linger on.
Every photograph of Zagreb has this roof in it, and the roof is younger than most visitors assume.
The church itself is thirteenth century in origin, with a superb Gothic south portal of around 1420 — fifteen figures in eleven niches, one of the most important pieces of Gothic sculpture in this part of Europe, and much less photographed than the tiles above it.
The roof was laid in 1880 by Hermann Bollé, as part of the same wave of restoration that gave the cathedral its spires.
The coats of arms
On the left, the medieval coat of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia — the red-and-white chequy, the three crowned leopard heads, and the marten between two rivers.
On the right, the coat of arms of the city of Zagreb.
That is the whole design, in glazed tile, and it works because it is a very simple idea executed at scale.
Inside
If you get in — and the church keeps limited hours, generally around services — the interior holds work by Ivan Meštrović: a crucifix, a Pietà, and a Madonna. There are frescoes by Jozo Kljaković.
It is a small, dark, genuinely used parish church rather than a monument, and it is the better for it.
The square
Trg svetog Marka is the political centre of Croatia. The Banski dvori — the government building — is on one side, the Sabor, the Croatian parliament, on the other.
That means police, barriers when something is happening, and no cafés. It is a place you cross rather than sit in.
It has seen a great deal. Matija Gubec, leader of the 1573 peasant revolt, was executed here — crowned with a red-hot iron circlet in mockery of a peasant king. On 7 October 1991 the Banski dvori was bombed from the air during the war, with the President inside; he was unhurt.
Practical
Free from the outside, which is where you will spend your time.
It is a two-minute walk from the funicular and from the Museum of Broken Relationships, and the whole of the Upper Town can be walked in an hour.
Come early or late for the photograph. Between eleven and four in summer there is a queue of people taking the same picture, and the light is flat anyway.
More Landmarks
Zagreb Cathedral
The tallest building in Croatia, rebuilt after one earthquake and taken apart again after another.
Ban Jelačić Square
The main square, the meeting point under the clock, and a statue that has been turned around twice for political reasons.
The Funicular and Lotrščak Tower
Sixty-six seconds on one of the shortest funiculars in the world, and a cannon fired at noon every day since 1877.