Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Remete

A filial church of the church of St. Teresa of Avila, the parish and the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Remete, an advocate of Croatians, are located in the north of Zagreb, among the rolling hills of the wooded Mt Medvednica. It is one of the oldest Marian churches in Croatia. The earliest records of the church date from the 13^th century. At the entrance, an inscription carved in stone reads “This church was built by the Veneration of Mary.”

The church has been a spiritual oasis for the city of Zagreb. Wall paintings by the Paulist artist Ivan Ranger still adorn the church walls, even though most of the paintings perished during the earthquake in 1880. Before the earthquake, the church was so lavishly decorated with fresco paintings that it was known as the “Croatian Sistine chapel”. The earliest record of the church dates from the 13^th century, but the exact date of the building of the church and the statue of Our Lady of Remete is still a mystery for historians, as the foundations of two other churches, a graveyard and the remains of other buildings discovered by archaeologists during the excavations all seem to suggest that the origins of this church take us further back in history.