Among inventors, gas lamps and mummies covered in indecipherable inscriptions

Zagreb offers a range of options for those who prefer cultural experiences. As well as the aforementioned Museum of Broken Relationships, you can take a trip far back in time at the Archaeological Museum, which houses the Zagreb mummy (officially named Nesi-Hensu) with its ‘Liber Linteus’, an Etruscan text (the longest of its kind ever found) written on its linen bandages and as yet undeciphered. The inventions that have shaped the city over the centuries offer another way to discover its lesser-known aspects. Eugen Rado, a dentist, was a native of the capital: he filed the first patent application (dated 1897) for the toothbrush. Nikola Tesla, however, had less luck with the city; he was born in Croatia to parents of Serbian origin. After becoming famous, he returned to Zagreb and offered to provide the city with electric lighting free of charge, a gift which the city authorities refused as they had already committed to other suppliers for gas street lamps. In the historic centre of the Upper Town, there are still around 250 street lamps of this type, which are switched on and off manually every evening and every morning by the so-called ‘nažigači’, the ‘lamp-lighters’. Walking at dusk beneath the soft glow of these old street lamps, with few people on the streets, is a bit like stepping back in time and experiencing the atmosphere of days gone by in the oldest part of Zagreb, before stopping for dinner at a traditional restaurant to sample some Croatian cuisine.

Archeological Museum - (infozagreb.hr)