In accordance with legal tradition, the Croatian Parliament is traditionally titled the Sabor. The oldest preserved records of Sabor sessions date back to 1273, although the beginnings of the Sabor are much earlier. Alongside the Icelandic Althing, formed in 930, and the Parliament of Sicily, established in 1130, the Sabor is therefore one of the oldest Diets in Europe.

Croatia is administratively divided into 20 counties and the City of Zagreb, which has the status of a county. Each county has particular competence for general education, health, land use, economic development, transport and its infrastructure, and the development of educational and cultural institutions.

The Croats put the Glagolitic script into print in the very earliest period of European printing, in the 15th century, and five incunabula were printed in Glagolitic. The incunabulum, Glagolitic Missal, was published on 22 February 1483, in Croatian Church Slavonic, only 28 years after Gutenberg’s Bible. It is the first ever missal in Europe to have been printed in a non-Latin script, and the perfection of the letters and the beauty of the typesetting and printing make it an absolute masterpiece of the printer’s art.

In 1990 Croatia was, with Slovenia and the Czech Republic, among the most developed Central European transition countries. However, its economic development was burdened by significant war damage, estimated at $37.1 billion, which made its transition to a market economy more difficult. The level of pre-war GDP (1990) was only reached again in 2004, and today’s GDP per capita amounts to 61% of the EU average (2012). The kuna, the national currency, was introduced in 1994.

Grassalkovich Palace in Bratislava, today the residence of the president of Slovakia, was built in 1760 for Count Antal Grassalkovich, a Croatian noble serving as the head of the Hungarian Chamber. This palace is the largest and most important Baroque building in Slovakia.

Adriatic Sea and islands

The Adriatic Sea is the most indented section of the Mediterranean Sea on the continent of Europe. In its present shape, it was formed by the rising of the sea level by 96 metres following the last ice age ...

Film production

The history of professional Croatian cinematography began only in the mid 20th century, although the first preserved films of Croatian places were made as early as 1898 by Alexandra Promio of the famous film company Lumière, and in 1904 ...

Tourism

Although in terms of the number of tourist arrivals, Croatia cannot compare with major tourism powers such as France, Spain, Italy or Greece, with 11.8 million tourist arrivals in 2012 and a trend of increasing numbers for many years Croatia has certainly ...

Emergence of Croatia

The first Slavic tribes arrived in the area which is modern-day Croatia in the 6th and 7th centuries, during the Migration Period. Among them were the Croats, who are mentioned in sources in connection with a wider area, but were ethnically most ...

The Constitution

The Croatian Parliament adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia on 22 December 1990. It is popularly known as the ‘Christmas Constitution’. Parliament adopted amendments to the Constitution in 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2010. The Constitution of the Republic ...

Wine

There is a long tradition of grape-growing and wine production, spread throughout most parts of the country, and viniculture is a traditional way of life. In homes and restaurants, local wines are commonly served. Natural features (climate, soil ...

Contemporary Croatia

The process of the emergence of the contemporary state of Croatia began with the crisis in Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, the strengthening of democratic movements and the restoration of multi-party systems. Such movements ...

Croatia in brief

Croatia has been present on the contemporary international political stage since its independence from the Yugoslav Federation, i.e. for a little over two decades, but in terms of history and culture, is one of the oldest European countries ...