The oldest film from 1911 turns up

What did Zagreb look like in 1911? The oldest preserved film of the city, which has been recently discovered in the Dutch Film Archive, pushes the envelope of the history of film in Zagreb, and also reveals the previously unknown details of what the city looked like back then.

The 17^th Festival of Nitrate Film in Belgrade featured a screening of the oldest film of Zagreb, which dates back to 1911 and is four minutes long. The film, made by Italians, is four years older than the previously known oldest film of Zagreb, and it had been stored at the Dutch Film Archive. It was discovered by Aleksandar Erdeljanović, head of the Yugoslav Film Archive, who realized that the film featured the Croatian capital and not an Italian city as the Dutch had thought.

The black and white film was then toned and screened across Europe as a tourist postcard of Zagreb. The film features the Church of St. Mark, the lakes at Maksimir Park, beautiful vistas of the Art Pavilion, shot from the main train station, as well as some unidentified views. The film also shows the Croatian National Theatre building and the Museum of Arts and Crafts. The film reveals that once there were obelisks in front of both these buildings but they are long gone now.
The previous oldest known film of Zagreb was thought to be “Kavana Corso” (Corso Coffee-house), by Josip Halle, dating from 1915.