Croatian History

Jacques Le Goff: …the flowering of one of the finest European artistic traditions of the Early Middle Ages… From his foreword to “Croatia in the Middle Ages: A Cultural Survey” On the territory of Croatia there exist many remains of the Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Let us mention only the beautiful palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (4th century) in Split (the city and the palace have been bombed in 1991 during the Greater Serbian aggression), the ancient city…

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One of the most beautiful buildings in Croatia is the fortress of Veliki Tabor from 15th century, in the north of Croatia (in the region of Hrvatsko Zagorje). An interesting Croatian Jesuit and missionary to India, Nikola Ratkaj (Rattkay) (1601 – 1662), was born there. Another Jesuit and missionary to Mexico born in Veliki Tabor was Ivan Ratkaj (1647 – 1683). For more information see [Croatian “Indias”] and [Zoric]. Veliki Tabor contains a part of collection of Antun Bauer, famous…

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The first film was shot in Zagreb in 1912. Many interesting animated movies were created by the Zagreb School of Animated Film. Dusan Vukotic with his 1962 OSCAR for animated film Surogat, created in Zagreb From Vukotic’s 1962 OSCAR winning Surrogate, a film which opened new directions in the history of world animation. Surogat by Dusan Vukotic, 1961Uploaded by mochuelin “Surogat” (Substitute, The Ersatz) by Dusan Vukotic (1927-1998) was the first animated film created outside the USA which won the…

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One of the distinguishing traits of Croatian national art can be seen in the famous PAG LACE. Meticulous and painstaking work of sunburn women from the island of Pag has been highly praised by European aristocracy. Maria Theresia (1717-1780), Austrian Empress, visited the island of Pag solely to get acquainted with lace-makers and their art. Afterwards, she invited three of them to be permanently on her court in Vienna. Some of the oldest Croatian laces, dating from 16th century, can…

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Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), Polish Nobel-Prize winner, wrote parts of his renowned novels during five of his visits to Croatia. Though Janko Polic Kamov (1886-1910) died very young, at the age of 24, he was a distinguished representative of Croatian and European avant-garde literature. This little known and very original writer was discovered more than 70 years after his premature death. His short story Sorrow was published in the Boston literary journal “Partisan Review.” Some distinguished American literary theorists consider him…

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John Malkovich, a famous American actor, has Croatian roots. It is interesting that he recited verses of Croatian national anthem Lijepa Nasa (Our Beautiful) in Nenad Bach’s song “Can We Go Higher?” in 1990s, see the video via www.lijepanasadomovina.com. Many thanks to Nenad Bach for this information. John Malkovich reciting verses of Lijepa nasa (Our Beautiful), Croatian national anthem, in Croatian, in Los Angeles studio Village Recorder, November 1990 (information by Nenad Bach, New York, July 2005) Freedom From Dispair,…

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If we measure the quality (and popularity) of haiku poetry by a number of international prizes, then Croatia can be ranked very high: immediately after Japan and the USA (1993, 1995). This is due to continuous efforts and enthusiasm of Vladimir Devidé, a well known Croatian mathematician and japanologist. He obtained a prestigious Japanese “Order of Sacred Treasure” – Konsantõ Zuihôshõ. Here is his haiku related to the aggression on Croatia written in 1991: A small pool of blood –…

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The largest cathedral in Croatia is in the town of Djakovo, bearing visible scars of the 1991-1995 Greater Serbian aggression on Croatia. The church of Sv. Kuzma and Damjan in Vukovar, the second largest in Croatia, was seriously damaged during Yugoslav bombing and shelling in 1991, and devastated in the period of Greater Serbian occupation in 1991-1995. The Zagreb Cathedral is the third largest church in Croatia. The earliest urbanist in the modern sense was Pope Sixto V (he was…

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Hermann Bollé (1845 – 1926), born in Köln, Germany, constructed (or participated in construction of) about 140 buildings in Croatia. Some of the most important are the Zagreb cemetery (one of the most beautiful in Europe), Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, the Zagreb cathedral, Djakovo cathedral, palace of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Contemporary Croatian architects contributed to urban shaping of several important European cities with their projects: Ivo Tatic and others – the building of the…

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Charles Billich is outstanding Croatian painter born in 1934 in the town of Lovran in Istria, and since 1956 working in Australia. He has permanent exhibition of his works at Hakane Museum in Tokyo since 1997, and was designated the official artist of the Australian Olympic team for Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. I like his Canberra cantata. In 1998 Charles Billich completed his series of Bleiburg paintings. He was elected the official painter of Australian and the USA…

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