Flower Power: 85 years of Zagreb’s Herzmansky Salon

To mark the 85th anniversary of one of Zagreb’s oldest and most significant flower salons, the Herzmansky salon, the Zagreb City Museum will feature a large exhibition, which will be open to the public until January 31st. The exhibits will display the most important moments from the history of this well-known family trade.

The oldest flower salon in Zagreb, the Herzmansky salon, which is located on Ðorđićeva Street, is preparing to celebrate the 85th anniversary of existence. The Zagreb City Museum has also joined the celebrations by featuring an exhibition, entitled “Flower Power: 85 Years of Zagreb’s Herzmansky salon”, which will be open to the public until January 31st. The exhibition was opened towards the end of last year, and it is the third exhibition from the cycle “Trades of Zagreb” that has been organized by the Zagreb City Museum.

Conceived as a story that reminds us of the salon’s numerous successes since its beginning until present day, the exhibition displays the most important achievements of all four generations of professional florists who have worked in the salon since 1925. As implied by the title of the exhibition, the salon was opened in 1925 by members of the Herzmansky family who had been schooled in the craft at various schools throughout Europe. The family affirmed itself shortly after the opening of the salon, which soon brought them numerous globally-renowned clients, including Belgian King, Boudouin, and Queen of England, Elizabeth II, among others. In the 1930’s their flower arrangements adorned some of the most important political and cultural institutions in what was then Yugoslavia; including the halls of Banski Dvori, the Croatian National Theatre, and the residences of the former Yugoslav president in Belgrade and at Brijuni.

In addition, their floral services were part of numerous prominent funerals; they made flower arrangements for the burial of the great Croatian politician from the turn of the 19th century, Stjepan Radić; the former king of Yugoslavia, Aleksandar I. Karađorđević; and the most famous Yugoslav president, Josip Broz Tito. With such an impressive list of references, employees of this family salon also influenced the florist profession itself, over time. In 1965, they organized the first independent flower exhibition in Zagreb and, just three years later, professional florist, Maja Štrban Knapić, went on a tour of ten American cities in order to promote the activity of Interflora: the International Association of Florists. Among the most significant awards and recognitions that the salon won were the one in the 1920’s in Zagreb; in the 1930’s in Paris, Toulouse and Nice; in the 1960’s in Rotterdam, Hamburg, Turin, San Remo and Trieste; and in the 1960’s and 1970’s flower fairs in Zagreb and Sisak. However, in order to present more than just awards, flower arrangements for this exhibition were made by Martina Knapić Horvat, a member of the fourth generation of florists descended from this family salon and tradition.