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City of Zagreb - Subdivisions (Croatia)

Zagreb Districts
Zagreb Subdivisions (Communities) (1964-1992)

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Zagreb Districts

Zagreb was recently divided into 17 districts. In fact the division was legally made several years ago, but the districts were never actually made. Only recently the first elections for the districts were made and they are now in process of establishing themselves. At this moment there is no yet talk not as far as I now any discussion among legislators either, about possible symbols of those districts (nor even right of adopting some is mentioned, I believe). However, I don't doubt that eventually there shall be some symbols.
Željko Heimer, 5 March 2001

Zagreb Subdivisions (Communities) (1964-1992)

In the first half of 1960's a reorganization of local administration was performed in Yugoslavia, so also the way the city of Zagreb was organized. Since about 1963 the communities were established as the basic units of local government, so that in 1964 the city of Zagreb was actually composed of 14 communities:
- Centar
- Crnomerec
- Dubrava
- Maksimir
- Medvešcak
- Novi Zagreb
- Pešcenica
- Samobor
- Sesvete
- Susedgrad
- Trešnjevka
- Trnje
- Velika Gorica
- Zaprešic
Some of these communities were considered the "inner" communities forming the city core, while others were "outer" - the surrounding towns that became more and more suburbs of the metropolis. I believe that at the end of 1980's the "inner" communities were considered: Centar, Crnomerec, Dubrava, Maksimir, Medvešcak, Novi Zagreb, Pešcenica, Trešnjevka and Trnje, while the "outer" were Sesvete, Susedgrad, Samobor, Velika Gorica and Zaprešic, the last three today separate cities in the Zagreb County. There was some regulation differences among those.
In late 1970's and in 1980's some of these communities adopted emblems (coats of arms, they were regularly called). As far as I was able to find out, only three of the "inner" communities adopted an emblem, and in each of the three cases, the designer was Pero Cimbur, winning the design competition. Many details of their adoption process is described in his book "Natjecanje za grb", 1985 [cim85]
Of the "outer communities" I believe that only Samobor used a coat of arms, the one including the name and date in it, and that was recently replaced with the more heraldic version. However, I was not able to find out anything about when this version started to be used - late 80's or maybe only in 90's?
To the best of my knowledge, none of the communities, including those who adopted coats of arms, used any flags at all. Some table flags might have been in use, but so far I was unable to document any.
Željko Heimer, 23 September 2007

Dubrava

image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2008

Dubrava (being the part of the city of Zagreb - which is not the same as the independent community of Dubrava in the Zagreb County today!) adopted a coats of arms in late 1980's, I believe. It showed in a blue outlined white shield a stylized red rose composed as a scheme of a new modern pentagonal settlement, in its core a red pentagonal filed containing white inscription "19.X" (the day of the community) and at the top a five-pointed red star. The shield is topped with the three white towers, thus symbolically connecting it with the coat of arms of Zagreb.
Željko Heimer, 23 September 2007

The 21 rectangle forming the "rose" (note that the word "rose" is actually not mentioned by the author of the design) represent the 21 local community, subdivisions that formed the community of Dubrava while the entire setting represent the new urban settlement. The date shown there 19 October refers to the date of the 5th Land Conference of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, held on 19th though 23rd October 1940 in Dubrava (considering the party was illegal, it was quite remarkable event). The letter V in the base also refers to the 5th Conference.
The coat of arms was adopted in June of 1985, when the Cimbur's book was already well into the printing process and the story about it was added to the book at the very last minute.
Željko Heimer, 2 November 2008

Susedgrad

image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2008

Susedgrad - the community is named after the old city that was standing on the westernmost slopes of the Medvednica mountain, guarding the entrance towards Zagreb from the west above the Sava river (or if you want to look it that way, guarding the Styria from the Turk raids that would try to enter it along the Sava River). The old city is nowadays just a ruin above the slowly developing suburban and industrial area named Podsused beneath it. The coat of arms adopted depicts the ruined tower of Susedgrad standing on a mount , behind it a cog wheel and two lightning bolts within it issuing from the old tower and above all a red five-pointed star, depicting industrialization, electrification and the communist party - the elements that were crucial to the development at the time. As Susedgrad was not the "inner" community, i.e. was not considered "really" a part of the city of Zagreb, but was just a "joined" community, the design do not include any reference to the city of Zagreb itself (like the three towers included in Dubrava and Trešnjevka coats of arms).
The coat of arms was adopted during 1983.
Željko Heimer, 23 September 2007 and 2 November 2008

Tresnjevka

image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2008

The Coat of Arms of Tresnjevka I remember very well this being the community where I lived (and still live though there is no community of than name any more). A lapel pin I preserved helps my memory, too. The shield is white with blue cog wheel with three towers from the Coat of Arms of Zagreb being incorporated as the three topmost cogs and though it flying a red flag with golden outlined five-pointed star, in the chief is the name of the community (in black or blue?). The cog wheel represents the industry that is (or was) very strong in the community, three towers are clear connection with Zagreb. The red revolutionary banner is reminder that Tresnjevka, as workers' suburb at the time, the core of the revolutionary movement in Zagreb (it was nicknamed "Red Tresnjevka").
Željko Heimer, 5 March 2001

The 21 rectangle forming the "rose" (note that the word "rose" is actually not mentioned by the author of the design) represent the 21 local community, subdivisions that formed the community of Dubrava while the entire setting represent the new urban settlement. The date shown there 19 October refers to the date of the 5th Land Conference of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, held on 19th though 23rd October 1940 in Dubrava (considering the party was illegal, it was quite remarkable event). The letter V in the base also refers to the 5th Conference.
The Coat of Arms was adopted in June of 1985, when the Cimbur's book was already well into the printing process and the story about it was added to the book at the very last minute.
Željko Heimer, 2 November 2008