Croatia

Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska), is a sovereign state at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital cityis Zagreb. The country's population is 4.28 million. Click here to learn more.

Culture

The most popular cities in Croatia are Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Dubrovnik,Osijek.

The culture of Croatia has roots in a long histiory. Tourism dominates the Croatian service sector.

Because of its geographic position, Croatia represents a blend different cultural spheres.

The UNESCO inscribed seven sites in Croatia  on the World Heritage List (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_Croatia). Croatia has got beautiful national parks, historical cities, old towns, castles and cathedrals.

The country is also rich with intangible culture (lacemaking, king`s tournament  Sinjska alka, klapa multipart singing etc.)

Most notably, Croatia has a place in the history of clothing as the origin of the cravat, a precursor of the modern necktie.

Some of the earliest remaining historical features include 100,000 year old bones of a Neandertal man near Krapina in Hrvatsko Zagorje.

Croatia is member of the European Union since 2013, and also a member of the United Nations.

Croatian is the official language of Croatia, and became the 24th official language of the European Union.

Education

Primary and secondary education are goverment-spoonsored.

Primary education in Croatia starts at the age of seven and consists of eight grades.

First through fourth grade is being taught by one teacher per class, but from fifth through eigth grade different teachers teach different subjects.

In Croatian secondary schools education lasts three or four years.

The higher education is also government-sponsored, and mostly free for students who enroll with better results.

Flag: 

Croatian coat of arms: 

Video about Croatia

Imotski  

Click here to learn more.

Red and Blue Lake Imotski  

Zmijavci

Art

Works of art that have been preserved from the earliest periods can speak of continuity and talent of Croatians. A variety of buildings, churches and carved stone located on Croatian territory are not only a symbol of Christianity, but also a reflection of work of local art masters and heritage keepers.

Among numerous representatives of architecture there are some of them who stand out: Juraj Dalmatinac, Nikola Firentinac, Ignjat Ficher, Rudolf Lubinski, Stjepan Planić and Drago Ibler.

Well-know names in domain of sculpture are: Ivan Meštrović, Ivan Rendić, Antun Augustinčić, Ivan Kožarić and Vojin Bakić.

Among numerous talented artists we can accentuate some of the names: Edo Murtić, Ivan Generalić, Otton Gliha, Emanuel Vidović, Ljubo Babić, Vlaho Bukovac and Vasilije Josip Jordan.

Comic or the "ninth art" was first developed in satirical magazines. Significant comic-authors are: Andrija Maurović, Dubravko Mataković, Ivica Bednjanec, Walter Neugebauer and Igor Kordej.

Following global trends, in late 19th century photography in Croatia was accepted as a type of art. Some of the prominent names are: Tošo Dabac, Nenad Gattin and Mladen Grčević.

Croatian writers

IVANA BRLIĆ MAŽURANIĆ (1874 - 1938) was born in Ogulin and grew up with her grandfather, Croatian ban and a poet Ivan Mažuranić. She started writing for her own children and later on for all the children of the world. Eventually, her characters spoke in 40 languages. Her most important stories are The Marvelous Adventures and Misadventures of Hlapić the Apprentice and  Croatian Tales of Long Ago.

TIN UJEVIĆ (1891 – 1955) was a poet. He attended 3 years of elementary school in Imotski and continued his education in Makarska, Split and Zagreb. Ujević was a translator, essayist and poet. His most famous collections of poetry are Cry of a slave, Neclace, Car on the street and Thirsty stone at the wellspring. 

MARKO MARULIĆ (1450 -1524) was born in Split in an aristocratic family. He was a Croatian national poet and Christian humanist, known as the father of the Croatian Literature. His most famous work is the first Croatian epic poem Judita. He wrote in 3 languages: Croatian, Latin and Italian, and also showed interest in painting, archeology and history.

ANTUN GUSTAV MATOŠ (1873 - 1914) was a Croatian poet, short story writer, journalist, essayist and travelogue writer. He was known as a bohemian. He lived in Zagreb, Vienna, Belgrade and Paris and was largely influenced by E. A. Poe and C. Baudelaire. His famous works are Fragments, New fragments and Tired Tales.

Film and Theatre

Croatian cinematography is best known for the Zagreb School of Animated Films. Their greatest work is an Oscar –winning short animated film Surogat by Dušan Vukotić. It was the first Oscar for an animated film assigned to author outside the United States.
"Tko pjeva zlo ne misli” (One song a day takes mischief away ) is one of the most watched Croatian films in history, won a number of awards. Croatian film critics found it to be the best Croatian film ever made.
“Ta divna splitska noć (Wonderful Night in Split) is a Croatian feature film from 2004., which won the audience award at the 27th Mediterranean Film festival in Montpellier in France: The movie represented Croatia at the 78th Academy Award and has been nominated for the Discovery Fassbinder.
Apart from numerous award-winning films, Croatian theater is enriched with numerous award-winning shows, like  "Glembays" , one of the most performed Croatian drama at all.

The play "Cowboys" was played more than three hundred times. The show has won 17 awards at various prestigious festivals, and is one of the most award-winning shows at the recent history of Croatian theater. The comedy feature film “Cowboys” based on this play has drawed a  great international interest.
One of the most successful Croatian operas of the 20th century is   “Ero s onoga svijeta”¨(Ero the Joker), which is performed abroad in more than a hundred  theaters, while the libretto was translated into a dozen languages.
Many Croatians  participated in the world cinema. Some of them are: Rade Šerbedžija (famous actor, born in Croatia),  Goran Višnjić (actor in the ER TV series ), Branko Lustig ( two time Academy Award  winner),  Mira Furlan ( actress, known for her roles in Babylon 5 and Lost TV series).

Famous Croatian musicians

2Cellos is a Croatian  cello duo, consisting of classically trained Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser. They have released three albums and play mainly instrumental arrangements of well-known pop and rock songs. The duo have performed internationally and featured in the TV series Glee. They cooperated with Elton John, Lang Lang, Naya Rivera, Steve Vai, Sky Ferreira and Zucchero.Click here to listen.Maksim Mrvica is a Croatian pianist. He plays classical crossover music. His album The Piano Player, gave a new spin to compositions by Handel and Chopin.
Click here to listen.

Croatian popular music - Prominent mainstream pop artists include: Gibonni, Toni Cetinski, Thompson, Severina and others. Croatia is known for the specific Dalmatian sound performed at various festivals along the Adriatic coast with Oliver Dragojević  and Mišo Kovač. Some of the most successful and long-lasting rock groups include Parni valjak and Prljavo kazalište. A highly acclaimed singer-songwriter is the chanson-inspired Arsen Dedić.

Traditional music of Croatia

Ganga - a type of singing which is characterized by a lone singer singing one line of lyrics and then others joining in for what can be best described as a wail. It is a very passionate form of singing popular in small towns. 

Click here to listen.

The klapa - a form of a cappella singing first appeared in littoral Croatia during the middle of the 19th century. The word klapa is derived from a word in slang Italian and refers to "a group of people".

Click here to listen.

Tamburica - Tamburica (diminutive of tambura) is the Croatian national string instrument and one of the hallmarks of Croatia.

Click here to listen.

Sport

Croatians are a sporting nation; sport is part of the compulsory curriculum in schools at all levels of education.

Along with many medals at international and European championships, Croatia has won 33 Olympic medals: 10 gold (2 in handball, one each in athletics, weightlifting, shooting, water polo, and 4 in downhill skiing), 12 silver medals: two in rowing, one each in athletics, gymnastics, basketball, water polo and swimming, and 5 in downhill skiing) and 11 bronze medals (3 in tennis, 3 in taekwondo, and one each in weightlifting, shooting, rowing, handball and the biathlon).

Some of the most famous names, recognizable worldwide are: Dražen Petrović (basketball), Goran Ivanišević (tennis), Janica Kostelić (downhill skiing), Ivano Balić (handball), Sandra Perković (athletics), Davor Šuker,  Dario Šimić, Zvone Boban,  Aljoša Asanović, Robert Prosinečki, Mario Mandžukić (soccer), Mirko Filipović (kickboxing / MMA), Ivica Kostelić (downhill skiing), Blanka Vlašić (athletics).