Gradec, Zagreb

Donji grad, "Lower Town") is a part of Zagreb, Croatia, and together with Kaptol it is the medieval nucleus of the city.

The citizens were given rights of different kinds; among other things they were entitled to elect their own city magistrate (Croatian: gradski sudac) fulfilling the role of mayor.

It could be rightly assumed that by building its fortification walls in the middle of the 13th century, Gradec acquired its outward appearance that can be clearly seen in today's Upper Town (Gornji Grad).

When guilds developed in Gradec in the 15th, and later in the 17th century, being the societies of craftsmen, their members including masters, journeymen and apprentices would gather regularly in St. Mark's Church.

At the west end of St. Mark's Square, the mansion called Banski dvori, the former residence of the Civil Governor of Croatia (Croatian: Ban), was built at the beginning of the 19th century and yet, it can be classed among the Zagreb antiquities.