Among the many interesting
sites of Zagreb's "Old Town" perhaps the most unique is the Cric
Tunnel, a 350-meter spine
cutting across the area between the upper town and Gornji Grad. The
tunnels were built during World War II as a bomb shelter and after the
war it was briefly used as a food warehouse, but fell into disuse
shortly after that. The central hall (now the Rain Room) was renovated
during the height of Cold War tensions. After a period where it was a
defacto home for the indigent, in 1993 it served as the site of the
Under City Rave, one of the first raves in Croatia, while it was
under the ownership of the Museum of Contemporary Art. A year later it
was a part of the city's Earth Day celebration. The tunnels underwent a
further renovation, opening to the public two years later. In the
ensuing years, it has hosted historical exhibitions, as well as Advent
celebrations. Unfortunately, visiting during the time of Covid-19, the
tunnel are once again bare.
Our tour of the Cric Tunnels begins Radiceva
entrance, the street that leads to the Upper Town. Passing between the
wooden doors adjacent to the Cric Souvenir shop (there are no tunnel
souvenirs, sadly), the actual entrance is about 25 meters inside. The
photo to the left shows the Radiceva street entrance, while the photo
to the left shows the actual entrance to the tunnel.
Entering the Cric Tunnels
The first tunnel that branches off to the
left connects
the main street of llica, which runs past the main square, Ban
Jelajic. The photo to the left shows the entrance to the tunnel,
which is located just past the Caffe bar Vespa, while the
photo to the right shows the entrance from Illica. The actual tunnel
entrance is about 75 meters from the street entrance, and is very easy
to
miss.
There seemed to be more access tunnels leading to the
south than are captured on the map--the second tunnel was a case in
point. It is a long offshoot, probably 80 meters or so long, and at the
end there is a chain in front of the exit door. The photo to the
left shows a view down the tunnel, while the photo to the right shows
visittors that they have reached the end of the line. At least it was
warm, compared to the 34 degree temperature outside. According to
Wikipedia, there were two
Ilica Street entrances, so perhaps this is
the second one.
The Third tunnel (I could not verify the street address
where it came
out, as a fence separated the tunnel entrance from access to a main
street, presumably Ilica again) open onto a small ledge, with stairs
leading to the street level. Again, a wire fence with a locked gate
prevented further exploration. Judging from the location on Google
Maps, it may be the Tomiceva entrance. When I exited the tunnel, a
worker was just finishing touchups on the purple exterior. Like the
next two exits, this one had washroom facilities just inside,
indicating that it must normally be open to the public. The photo to
the left shows the view from the main passageway, while the photo to
the left shows the painted tunnel entrance.
As you can see from the map at the top of
the page, midway between the
main entrances lies a much larger and open central hall, which is
identified in the map above as a "Rain Room." The central
underground hall has been turned into a Rain Room where visitors walk
under water drops (umbrellas are provided by the Tunnel) and images of
famous persons of Croatia are displayed, with holograms of the first
female proffesional journalist in Croatia Marija Juric Zagorka,
Croatian poet Antun Gustav Matos, Manda (from the legend of
Mandusevac, the origin story of Zagreb) and other historical and
cultural figures in drops of
water. There was no evidence
of this on the day that I visited, so I don't know if this is still
operating. The central hall was where goods were stored
when the tunnel served as a warehouse.
There were numerous stencil signs, mostly
faded,
that lined the entire 350-meter route. Given my limited knowledge of
Croatian (7 words and counting), I can barely hazard a guess as to
their meaning. The problem is compounded by the fact that key elements
of the phrases are badly faded. The photo to the left says something
about leaving, while the photo to the right is some sort of warning.
Fortunately, I was not threatened by a nuclear attack, so I could
safely ignore them.
The final two south facing
tunnels lead to the Art Park and are labeled
Art Park 2 and Art Park 1 respectively (moving from east to west).
Although both were closed when we visited, they appeared to be
identical, and most likely were another popular entrance, as they both
feature washroom facilities at the now-closed entrances. The photo to
the left shows one of the Art Park entrances, while the photo to the
right shows the facilities at the entrances.
Beyond the final two Art Park
side tunnels lies the the west entrance on Mesnicka Ulica. This is the
most popular entrance, located at the base of the beautiful
Strossmayer Promenade. The location is just below the promenade, and is
shown
in the photo to the left. While it was somewhat disappointing that all
the previous historical and social exhibits were removed and the advent
festvities no longer find a home there (at least not in 2021), it is
hoped that they will again one day serve as an exhibition center and
not
merely a pedestrian walkway. Before leaving the topic, below is a short
video
of the tunnels in happier times, during the Advent festivities.
The
Cric Tunnels During Advent
2
