The streets of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, are still lit up by 249 gas-powered street lamps. Tomislav Deak, one of Europe's last lamplighters, lights them every evening.
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00:00As night falls over the old city of Zagreb, the street lanterns begin giving off their
00:06warm glow, a European tradition.
00:10Tomislav Dejak and his uniform are distinctive too.
00:13The lanterns still use gas.
00:16It's Tomislav's job to light them every evening.
00:19Lantern lighters still exist only in Wroclaw, Poland and here in the Croatian capital, Zagreb,
00:25as they have for 161 years.
00:28We light 249 gas lanterns every evening and put them out every morning to fit the length
00:35of the days.
00:38It's said that not a single night has passed in Zagreb without the gas lanterns being lit.
00:44Yet most have already been replaced with electric light, which is brighter and cheaper.
00:50Replacement parts are hard to come by.
00:57Hardly any companies make these lamps and their parts anymore.
01:02Keeping them maintained is very difficult.
01:07For example, only two companies worldwide still make these gas mantles.
01:13Zagreb wants to keep their last lanterns burning though.
01:18They gave us light in wartime and through rain, snow and storms.
01:22They're easy to light.
01:24They're part of Zagreb's history.
01:26We're proud of them, and so we want to keep them.
01:31Tomislav is proud of the lanterns too, and he'd prefer not to believe rumours that the
01:36last of them will at some point be replaced to save money.
01:43I think Zagreb should preserve its tradition of gas lanterns and lantern lighters.
01:50We're a real tourist attraction here in the old part of the city.
01:58They like watching us light the lanterns.
02:04He explains that tourists, especially from Asia, find the tradition delightfully old-world.
02:11He's taking a group from Taiwan on his tour.
02:15You want to burn it?
02:16No.
02:17No burning?
02:18No, no, it's okay.
02:19Ah, okay.
02:22Thank you, gentlemen.
02:23It's something special for these visitors.
02:26Yes, all the fashions, and the gentlemen just wear very special, and with some of the tools
02:34to light it up, yeah.
02:38A few streets away, the gas lamps have already been replaced with modern streetlights.
02:43Yet they're still hanging there, relics of a bygone era.
02:49The gas lamps are something special, because they have the history and the tradition of
02:53Zagreb behind them.
02:58Of course, you could replace them with LEDs, or something more modern, but the gas lamps
03:04have a soul.
03:07We have to keep them, and I hope we have them for many more years.
03:16And so, Tomislav and his colleague will continue their rounds, come rain or shine.
03:22Two of Europe's last keepers of the light.
03:31That's it for Focus on Europe today.
03:33On behalf of the team here, thanks for tuning in, and until next time.