CROATIA

Gospodarska škola Čakovec

CROATIA IN BRIEF

CROATIA IN BRIEF

NATIONAL SYMBOLS

The national anthem is Lijepa naša domovino (Our Beautiful Homeland). It first appeared during the period of national revival in the early 19th century. The words were written by the poet Antun Mihanović and set to music by Josip Runjanin.

GEOGRAPHY

Croatia is shaped like a horseshoe, stretching from Vukovar in the northeast, past Zagreb in the west, and to Dubrovnik in the far south. It gained most of its present-day contours at the end of the 17th century.

• Croatia is the third-richest country in Europe in terms of natural water resources, and boasts a particularly well-preserved ecological environment, with hundreds of endemic plant and animal species. Almost 10% of the country is protected within 12 nature parks, 8 national parks and two strict nature reserves.

Brijuni National Park, (established 1983) near the west coast of Istria, encompasses 14 islands, islets, and reefs.

Mljet National Park (established 1960)

Plitvice Lakes National Park, the oldest national park, declared in 1949, and inscribed in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List in 1979

Rožanski and Hajdučki Kukovi Strict Reserve, part of North Velebit National Park.

Kopački Rit in Baranja, declared a nature park in 1967.

Opeka, not far from Varaždin, the most famous arboretum, along with Trsteno near Dubrovnik.

Skradinski Buk (established 1985), a waterfall in Krka National Park. This is where the first hydroelectric plant in Europe was built, thanks to the inventions of Nikola Tesla.

ENDEMIC FLORA AND FAUNA

The otter (Lutra lutra), a protected species.

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia), a protected species with about 1,300 nesting pairs in Croatia.

The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is another endangered species. There are over 120 nesting pairs, mostly in two ornithological reserves on the island of Cres.

The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), known locally as the merman, is one of the most endangered mammals in the world.

ENDEMIC FLORA AND FAUNA

The cave salamander (Proteus anguinus) is endemic to the Dinaric karst region.

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) a strictly protected large carnivore. In Kuterevo on Mount Velebit there is a bear sanctuary for cubs orphaned as a result of accidents or poaching.

The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) lives mostly in the waters around the island of Lošinj.

The lynx (Lynx lynx), a strictly protected large carnivore, is a permanent inhabitant of Gorski Kotar and Lika.

ENDEMIC FLORA AND FAUNA

Velebit degenia (Degenia velebitica), the best known endemic species, also grows on Mount Velebit.

The Croatian iris (Iris croatica) is an endemic species which grows in the northern part of the country.

TOURISM

Although Croatia cannot compare with major tourism powers such as France, Spain, Italy or Greece in terms of the number of tourist arrivals, with around 20 million tourist arrivals in 2019 and a trend of increasing numbers for many years, Croatia has certainly become one of the most popular countries on the Mediterranean.

Rovinj, recently the most visited town in Istria.

TOURISM

Zlatni Rat beach in Bol on the island of Brač. Traditionally, the most well-developed form of tourism is sun and beach tourism, but lately there has been an increase in diving and sailing tourism, ‘Robinson Crusoe’ tourism in isolated light houses, adventure holidays and cruises.

TRADITIONAL CULTURE

Traditional Croatian culture is characterised by exceptional diversity. Ecological conditions and the influences of the cultures with which the Croats have come into contact through history (Mediterranean, Central European, Ancient Balkan, Oriental, etc.), have resulted in the development of three regional modalities of Croatian traditional culture, that is, three specific regional cultures: Pannonian, Dinaric and Adriatic.

Gingerbread, a colourfully decorated confection traditionally produced in northern Croatia, usually in the shape of a heart. Gingerbread-makers also make mead and beeswax products. Their craft is inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

With 15 entries on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Croatia is, with Spain, the European country with the highest number of entries.

• lacemaking
• two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale (Istria and Hrvatsko Primorje)
• the Festival of St Blaise, patron saint of Dubrovnik (3 February)
• the annual spring procession of the kraljice or ljelje from Gorjani
• the annual Carnival procession of the Kastav bellmen
• the Za Križen procession on the island of Hvar (Holy Week)
• traditional manufacturing of children’s wooden toys in the region of Hrvatsko Zagorje
• the Sinjska Alka, a knights’ tournament in Sinj
• the gingerbread craft in northern Croatia
• Bećarac singing and playing from Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem
• the Nijemo Kolo (Silent Circle Dance) of the Dalmatian hinterland
• Klapa singing
• Mediterranean diet in the Croatian Adriatic region, its coast, islands and part of its hinterland
• Međimurska Popevka, a folksong from the Međimurje region
• the art of dry stone walling, knowledge and techniques
• Ojkanje singing has been inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
• The Batana Ecomuseum Project in Rovinj has been inscribed on the UNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.

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MEĐIMURJE

• XX. Međimurje County�Administrative centre: Čakovec�Number of inhabitants (2011): 113,804�Surface area in km²: 729�medjimurska-zupanija.hr

Enogastronomy

Just as Medjimurje’s heritage is interesting and imaginative, so is the traditional cuisine of Medjimurje. It has been centuries since Medjimurje’s wine story started being intertwined with the scent of exquisite original dishes. As a testimony, there is a famous cookbook dating from the 17th century Zrinski court, which contains a list of recipes of Medjimurje's authentic Baroque culinary experience and illustrates the dishes as they used to be prepared for the mighty noble family.

DON’T MISS OUT…

• pretepena juha (‘thick cream soup’)
• meso 'z tiblice (cooked cured meat packed in a wooden barrel)
• Turoš cottage cheese
• temfani picek (chicken in a cream sauce) with buckwheat porridge
• međimurska gibanica (layer cake)...

MEDJIMURJE’S WINES

• Graševina (Welschriesling)
• Moslavac (Furmint)
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Chardonnay
• Traminac (Gewurztraminer)
• Muscat Blanc…

The Wine Road is undoubtedly one of the most famous tourism product in Medjimurje. It consists of a 30 km itinerary with round thirty wine tasting establishments. Do not miss out Pušipel - wine variety created in Medjimurje which revitalized Moslavac variety.

CULTURAL-HISTORICAL HERITAGE

• ethnographic collection in the Čakovec Museum of Medjimurje
• private collections of Stanko Trstenjak in Marof, Lucija Krnjak in Mačkovec
• cultural associations’ collections in Kotoriba, Sveta Marija, Mala Subotica and Podturen
• religious buildings in Medjimurje: St Jerome’s Church in Štrigova, St Martin’s Church in Sveti Martin na Muri, St Nicholas’s Church in Čakovec, Church of the Holy Trinity in Nedelišće, St James’s Church in Prelog, Seven Sorrows of the BVM Church and St Cross Church in Kotoriba.

ZRINSKI FAMILY

• Croatian-Hungarian noble family, influential during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe in the Kingdom of Croatia's union with the Kingdom of Hungary and in the later Kingdom of Croatia as a part of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Coat of arms of the Zrinski family

Čakovec Castle

DID YOU KNOW?

THE TIE (CRAVAT)

Today an essential fashion accessory for men and women, was named after an item in the uniform of Croatian soldiers during the Thirty Years War. As part of their uniform, they tied an eye-catching length of fabric around their necks. The Parisians noted this Croatian custom and adopted it as their own fashion detail, wearing neck ties ‘à la croate’, now forming the root of the French noun ‘la cravate’. Croatia is still proud of this historical gem, and the Croatian Sabor has declared 18 October Cravat Day.

THE DALMATIAN DOG

Also known as the Dalmatinac or Dalmatiner, is the most famous indigenous Croatian canine breed, named after the Croatian historical province of Dalmatia, where it was bred in the past.

SAN MARINO

According to legend, the founder of San Marino in the early 4th century was a stonemason, Marin, from the island of Rab.

MARCO POLO

A 13th century Venetian explorer of the Far East, was born on the island of Korčula, according to one claim. There is no direct evidence for the claim, but research has shown that a Venetian trading family, the Polos, did in fact come from Korčula.

HORVÁT OR HORVÁTH

The surname Horvát or Horváth, which literally means ‘Croat’, is one of the most common surnames in Hungary and among the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Of course, not all Hungarians with the surname are of Croatian origin, but the fact that the name is so widespread is an indication of the hundreds of years of connections between Croatia and Hungary and the migration of populations in the past.

PSYCHOLOGY

The Croatian writer Marko Marulić is credited with the first ever use of the word ‘psychology’ (in the title of his work Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae), meaning the science of the soul.

JAMES JOYCE

The Irish writer, James Joyce, while searching for work in Europe, found a job in Pula in the autumn of 1904. He went there with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle. They stayed for four months, during which time Joyce taught English at the Berlitz School for Austro-Hungarian Officers.

JULES VERNE

The French writer, Jules Verne, placed his novel Mathias Sandorf, published in 1885, in Istria. He was attracted by the picturesque gorge of the River Pazinčica, with Kaštel above it. He was not the only one – this scene has often inspired the imagination.

HUM

Hum in Istria is the smallest town in the world. This fortress town, partly enclosed by defence walls, and partly by conjoined house walls, and which is entered by a town gate, has 30 residents according to the 2011 census.

THE LARGEST TRUFFLE IN THE WORLD

The largest truffle in the world, weighing 1.3 kg, was found in 1999 near the village of Livada in Istria, and was entered in the Guinness Book of Records in 2000.

SEA ORGAN IN ZADAR, WHICH PLAYS MUSIC BY WAY OF SEA WAVES

There is an organ in Zadar powered by sea waves. It was built in 2005 by the architect Nikola Bašić, assisted by Ivica Stamać (sound) and Vladimir Andročec (hydraulics), while the calculations for articulating the sound were provided by the Heferer organ-making studio. Bašić’s installation Greeting the Sun is close by.

GOSPODARSKA ŠKOLA

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