Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery complex is one of the seven European most endangered monument localities in 2021, Culture Minister Nina Obuljen-Korzinek said at a news conference on Thursday.

The Ministry, in cooperation with the City of Zagreb, the City Institute for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, and the Zagreb Holding multi-utility conglomerate, nominated the cemetery for the European Seven Most Endangered Programme, taking into account its specificity and value as the most important multiconfessional cemetery in Croatia and an exceptionally valuable cemetery at the European level, the minister said, adding the cemetery had suffered massive damage in the March 2020 earthquake.

The programme, implemented since 2013 by Europa Nostra in cooperation with the European Investment Bank Institute, each year puts emphasis on seven European localities.

That way experts and funds are mobilised so that together we can renovate the European cultural heritage, said Obuljen-Korzinek.

She noted that a number of European experts, notably earthquake reconstruction experts, had offered various forms of help over the past year and that they would all be involved, notably in complex reconstruction projects.

“The preliminary work on the Mirogoj complex alone, to be financed from the European Solidarity Fund, has been estimated at HRK 97 million,” she said, adding that this includes emergency repairs acceptable for financing under the European Solidarity Fund.

Those funds have been approved, documents are being collected and work will start relatively soon, she said, noting that it was clear to everyone that the renovation of Mirogoj would be a long-standing project requiring great professional engagement considering that the cemetery had not been renovated since its construction.

The other six most endangered monuments and localities of cultural heritage in Europe in 2021 are the Achensee Cog Railway (Tyrol, Austria), Five Southern Aegean Islands (Greece), Giusti Garden in Verona (Italy), Decani Monastery (Kosovo), the Central Post Office in Skopje (North Macedonia), and the San Juan de Socueva Chapel and Hermitage (Cantabria, Spain).