Old crafts and trades
Zagreb County is a traditional craft and trade region of the Republic of Croatia. Throughout history, the County’s craftsmen and tradesman have supplied the local county population with their crafts and products, as well as supplying the population of the City Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.
The most present are certainly the following: gingerbread makers and candle makers, potters, blacksmiths, harness makers, leather workers, brick makers, bakers and butchers, glass makers and crystal makers. The skills of individual masters is also seen in the production of musical instruments, the production of footwear, clothing and jewellery, the creation of models of the traditional wooden houses of the County – the Turopolje, Prigorje, Posavina and Zumberak houses, the production of wines and liqueurs, salami and more.
Over time, the crafts have changed, some have evolved while others have fallen into oblivion, however, the tradition exists even today. The art of the national masters has found its way into the future through the creation of souvenirs and miniature replicas modelled after articles from the past. To support this, in 2002 the Zagreb County Souvenir Basket was created, containing eight significant traditional or modernized native souvenirs of Zagreb County. The Basket promotes the old, traditional articles in a new way, and a functional, useful and lovely souvenir with the characteristics of a specific region or country is obtained.
Several of the oldest and most well known crafts are very specific to the Zagreb surroundings, and in more recent times, these crafts have been extensively promoted through well planned projects to pass them on to younger generations and to keep them from being forgotten. Therefore, we will present them here.