St. Catherine’s Church – the Most Beautiful Baroque Church in Zagreb
The most beautiful baroque church in Zagreb, St. Catherine’s Church, regularly serves as a stage for concerts of classical music which are on the program of different cultural happenings in the city of Zagreb.
The Church of St. Catherine is the most beautiful baroque church in Zagreb. It is located in the Upper Town, round the corner from the Church of St. Mark, the symbol of the old part of Zagreb. St. Catherine’s Church was erected by the Jesuit order between 1620 and 1632. It has six side chapels and a sanctuary. The chapels house five wooden baroque altars dating back to the 17th century and a marble one from 1729. The interior of the church is richly decorated with stucco works from 1732. The sanctuary houses a low altar in front of the illusionistic composition depicting St. Catherine and Philosophers from Alexandria, painted by Slovenian painter Krištov Andrej Jelovšek.
Adjacent to St. Catherine’s Church is the complex of the former 17th century Jesuit monastery which has been converted into the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery. Like the Church of St. Catherine, the gallery’s atrium is a popular place for classical music concerts. For a number of years now, the atrium of the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery has been the venue of the Zagreb Summer Evenings Festival featuring some of the best classical musicians from Croatia and abroad.