Milan Amruš

Who was Milan Amruš?

Milan Emil Amruš was a Croatian physician, lawyer and politician, a two-term mayor of Zagreb.

Amruš was born in Brod na Savi, where he completed grammar school. He studied at the gymnasiums in Vinkovci and Zagreb, and then enrolled at the Josephinum, the academy for military doctors in Vienna. Since 1872 he worked in military hospitals in Vienna and Zagreb. After the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia, he moved to Sarajevo. He returned to Zagreb in 1882, when he also enrolled at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb.

While in Zagreb, he joined the Independent People's Party and in 1889 he became a member of the Croatian Parliament where he would serve until 1903. He received a law doctorate in 1890. The same year he was named the mayor of Zagreb. In his capacity as mayor, he brought Nikola Tesla back from the United States in an effort to get the city electric lighting, but was unsuccessful. The Zagreb Main Station was built during this time. His first mayoral term ended in 1892.

In 1904, he was elected mayor again. His second term was much longer and much more fruitful than the first one. During it, the electrification of Zagreb was completed on October 17, 1907.