Portal:Croatia

Dobro došli na hrvatski portal!

Welcome to the Croatia Portal!
Dobro došli na hrvatski portal!

Flag of Croatia	Coat of Arms of Croatia

Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Italy to the west. Its capital and largest city, Zagreb, forms one of the country's primary subdivisions, with twenty counties. Other major urban centers include Split, Rijeka and Osijek. The country spans 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles), and has a population of nearly 3.9 million.

The Croats arrived in modern-day Croatia, then part of Roman Illyria, in the late 6th century. In the 7th century, they organized the territory into two duchies. Croatia was first internationally recognized as independent on 7 June 879 during the reign of Duke Branimir. Tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. During the succession crisis after the Trpimirović dynasty ended, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of Austria to the Croatian throne. In October 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs, independent from the Habsburg Empire, was proclaimed in Zagreb, and in December 1918, it merged into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, most of Croatia was incorporated into a Nazi-installed puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia. A resistance movement led to the creation of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, which after the war became a founding member and constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence, and the War of Independence was successfully fought over the next four years.

Croatia is a republic and a parliamentary democracy. It is a member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the World Trade Organization, a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean, and is currently in the process of joining the OECD. An active participant in United Nations peacekeeping, Croatia contributed troops to the International Security Assistance Force and was elected to fill a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in the 2008–2009 term for the first time.

Croatia is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy. Service, industrial sectors, and agriculture dominate the economy. Tourism is a significant source of revenue for the country, with nearly 20 million tourist arrivals as of 2019. Since the 2000s, the Croatian government has heavily invested in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Croatia has also positioned itself as a regional energy leader in the early 2020s and is contributing to the diversification of Europe's energy supply via its floating liquefied natural gas import terminal off Krk island, LNG Hrvatska. Croatia provides social security, universal health care, and tuition fee-free primary and secondary education while supporting culture through public institutions and corporate investments in media and publishing. (Full article...)

Recognized content - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Zadar on the map of Croatia (JNA-held area in late December 1991 highlighted in red)

The Battle of Zadar (Croatian: Bitka za Zadar) was a military engagement between the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, or JNA), supported by the Croatian Serb Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina (SAO Krajina), and the Croatian National Guard (Zbor Narodne Garde, or ZNG), supported by the Croatian Police. The battle was fought north and east of the city of Zadar, Croatia, in the second half of September and early October 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Although the JNA's initial orders were to lift the Croatian siege of the JNA's barracks in the city and isolate the region of Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia, the orders were amended during the battle to include capturing the Port of Zadar in the city centre. The JNA's advance was supported by the Yugoslav Air Force and Navy.

Fighting stopped on 5 October, when a cease-fire agreement was reached by the belligerents after the JNA reached the outskirts of Zadar and blocked all land routes to the city. Subsequent negotiations resulted in a partial withdrawal of the JNA, restoring road access to Zadar via the Adriatic Highway and the evacuation of JNA facilities in the city. The JNA achieved a portion of its stated objectives; while it blocked the Maslenica Bridge (the last overland route between the Croatian capital of Zagreb and Zadar), a road via Pag Island (relying on a ferry) remained open. The JNA Zadar garrison was evacuated as a result of negotiations, but the ZNG captured several relatively small JNA posts in the city. The port was never captured by the JNA, although it was blockaded by the Yugoslav Navy. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Lovro Šitović, a 17th-century Croatian Franciscan friar who wrote a Latin grammar, was a convert from Islam?
... that during the production of Serious Sam: The First Encounter, all of its developers were conscripted into the Croatian military?
... that a monument in Croatia depicts a small red car triumphing over a battle tank?
... that German equestrian Hermann Weiland competed for Croatia at the 1992 Summer Olympics, but marched with Guam during the opening ceremony?

General images

The following are images from various Croatia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Ban Josip Jelačić at the opening of the first modern Croatian Parliament (Sabor), 5 June 1848. The Croatian tricolour flag can be seen in the background. (from Croatia)
Image 2Klis Fortress in the hinterland of town of Split was one of the places that saw action during the First Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1242. (from History of Croatia)
Image 3A 16th century depiction of Vrana monastery, seat of John of Palisna. (from History of Croatia)
Image 4Croatian soldiers raising the flag on the Knin fortress at a commemoration of the Operation Storm, the Croatian military action which liberated occupied Croatian territories in 1995 (from Croatia)
Image 5"Remnants of the Remnants" (Reliquiae Reliquiarum), shown on this map in yellow, represent the territory under the jurisdiction of Croatian-Slavonian Sabor at the height of the Ottoman advance (from History of Croatia)
Image 6Croatia became the 28th EU member country on 1 July 2013. (from Croatia)
Image 7Iapodian headwear and other material culture from Gacka valley, Croatia. (from History of Croatia)
Image 8Tourist cruise on the Danube river, eastern Slavonia (from Croatia)
Image 9Zagreb Cathedral in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, the 14th century interior (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 10Coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (from History of Croatia)
Image 11Pula Film Festival is held each year during summer. Its main stage is Roman amphitheatre in Pula. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 12Landscapes of Motovun in Istrian peninsula (from Croatia)
Image 13Zagorski štrukli (from Croatia)
Image 14Galešnjak island in a shape of a heart (from Croatia)
Image 15Branimir inscription (879–892), a Latin language reference to Duke Branimir as Dux Cruatorum. (from History of Croatia)
Image 16University Hospital Centre Zagreb is the largest hospital in Croatia and the teaching hospital of the University of Zagreb. (from Croatia)
Image 17A visit of Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph to Zagreb in 1895, where he officially opened the Croatian National Theatre building. (from History of Croatia)
Image 18Kingdom of Croatia c. 925, during the reign of King Tomislav (from Croatia)
Image 19Croatia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (from History of Croatia)
Image 20The 1527 Cetingrad Charter, preserved in the National Archives of Austria contains seals of most distinguished Croatian nobles such as: Ivan Karlović, Nikola III Zrinski as well as seal with Croatian checkerboard. (from History of Croatia)
Image 21Croatian musical diva Josipa Lisac. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 22Josip Broz Tito led Yugoslavia from 1944 to 1980; Pictured: Tito with the US president Richard Nixon in the White House, 1971 (from Croatia)
Image 23Radio Zagreb, now a part of Croatian national public broadcasting company, Croatian Radiotelevision, was the first public radio station in Southeast Europe. (from Croatia)
Image 24Croatia national football team in World Cup 2018 in Russia (from Croatia)
Image 25Rimac Automobili were designed and made in Croatia (from Croatia)
Image 26Novigrad Castle, near Zadar was a place where anti-court supporters held queens Mary and Elizabeth in captivity. Velebit mountain can be seen in castle's background. (from History of Croatia)
Image 27A man wearing Lika cap. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 28A chair designed by Bernardo Bernardi in 1956. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 29Portrait of a Roman woman, found in Solin (Salona), Croatia. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 30The historic centre of Trogir has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Site since 1997. (from Croatia)
Image 31Flag of the Independent State of Croatia (from History of Croatia)
Image 32A border marking of Illyrian Provinces on Sava river shores in modern-day Zagreb. (from History of Croatia)
Image 33Croatians in a caffe bars on Bogovićeva street, in Zagreb (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 34The National Memorial Cemetery of The Victims of Homeland War in Vukovar — the central site of the National Remembrance Day, commemorating all war victims and the Vukovar massacre, a pivotal event in Croatia’s fight for independence 1991. (from Croatia)
Image 35The 1835 issue of the magazine Danicza, with lyrics of what would later become the Croatian national anthem "Lijepa naša domovino" ("Our Beautiful Homeland"). (from History of Croatia)
Image 36Ozalj Castle - one of Zrinski-Frankopan conspirators center and a center of Ozalj literary-linguistic circle which produced Croatian baroque literature such as: Putni tovaruš, Gazophylacium or Gartlic za čas kratiti. (from History of Croatia)
Image 37Tounj bridge on Jozephina road (from History of Croatia)
Image 38Interior of the Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 39Portal of the Trogir cathedral by sculptor Radovan, c. 1240 (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 40Poštak Wind Farm near Gračac, Zadar County. (from Croatia)
Image 41The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within Austria-Hungary created in 1868 following the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement. (from Croatia)
Image 42Ethnic structure of Croatia in 2021. (from Croatia)
Image 43Croatian writer Ivana Brlić – Mažuranić most known for her popular children's novel The Marvellous Adventures of Lapich the Apprentice (Croatian: Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića) (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 44Franjo Tuđman, the 1st president of the modern independent Republic of Croatia (from History of Croatia)
Image 45Medieval Croatia (dark green) south of Gvozd Mountain shown in relation to medieval Slavonia (green) centered around Diocese of Zagreb. (from History of Croatia)
Image 46Telašćica Nature Park (from Croatia)
Image 47The assassination of Croatian MPs in the National Assembly in Belgrade was one of the events which greatly damaged relations between Serbs and Croats in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. (from History of Croatia)
Image 48People of Zagreb celebrating liberation on 12 May 1945 by Croatian Partisans (from Croatia)
Image 49Two parts of the Triune Kingdom: Croatia-Slavonia (number 17) and Dalmatia (number 5) within Austria-Hungary (from History of Croatia)
Image 50Croatian borders similar to those established with the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699. Although the peace treaty meant relief from Ottoman pressure, Croatia lost the compactness of its territory. (from History of Croatia)
Image 51A map of 10th-century Croatian counties (županije), as they were mentioned in De Administrando Imperio. The counties marked in blue represent the territories governed by the Croatian Ban. (from History of Croatia)
Image 52The Law Code of Vinodol from 1288, written in Glagolitic script, is the earliest legal text written in the Croatian language. This code regulated relations between inhabitants of the town of Vinodol and their overlords, the counts of Krk. (from History of Croatia)
Image 53Croatian folk dance (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 54Vučedol dove – the most famous piece of bronze age Vučedol culture. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 55Varaždin, capital of Croatia between 1767 and 1776, is the seat of Varaždin county; Pictured: Old Town fortress, one of 15 Croatia's sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list (from Croatia)
Image 56Cremeschnitte of Samobor (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 57A map of the Istrian peninsula from the Roman map Tabula Peutingeriana, made sometime in the 4th century (from History of Croatia)
Image 58The woodcut by Leonhard Beck, from c. 1515, depicts the Battle of Krbava Field between the Army of Croatian nobility and Ottoman akinjis. (from History of Croatia)
Image 59Vineyard in Hrvatsko Zagorje. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 60The Baška Tablet from the 11th century, written in the Croatian language and Glagolitic script. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 61Traditional Croatian musicians playing violins (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 62Proclamation of severing ties with Austria-Hungary in front of Croatian Sabor in 1918. (from History of Croatia)
Image 63Pluteus with the figure of king from 11th century, found in Hollow Church in Solin is thought to most likely depict a King of Croatia, probably Petar Krešimir IV or Demetrius Zvonimir. Above the sculpture, Croatian interlace can also be seen, which is a common feature of Croatian pre-romanesque art. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 64The flag of Croatia was hoisted together with the flag of Europe on the building of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in Zagreb as a symbol of Croatia's membership in both the Council of Europe and the European Union (from History of Croatia)
Image 65The climax of Hasan Pasha's Great Offensive was third Battle of Sisak on 22 June 1593. The battle is depicted here by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor. (from History of Croatia)
Image 66A tower on top of Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) building in Zagreb neighbourhood of Prisavlje. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 67One of the seats of 14th-century magnate Paul Šubić, in Bribir. Paul held the hereditary titles of the Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia. Croatian historians sometimes refer to Paul as "the uncrowned king of Croatia". (from History of Croatia)
Image 68Late 9th century Church of Holy Salvation with a Carolingian westwork, built at the time of duke Branimir of Croatia. (from History of Croatia)
Image 69Dubrovnik is Croatia's most visited and most popular destination. (from Croatia)
Image 70Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac with the Croatian communist leader Vladimir Bakarić at the celebration of May Day, shortly before Stepinac was arrested and convicted by the communists (from Croatia)
Image 71Pula Arena, Roman amphitheatre located in Pula, constructed between 27 BC and AD 68. (from Croatia)
Image 72Plitvice Lakes, IUCN Category II (National Park) (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 73Ban Josip Jelačić at the opening of the first Croatian civic Parliament (Sabor) whose deputies were elected on 5 June 1848.
In earlier Sabors, members represented feudal estates rather than citizens. The Croatian tricolor flag can also be seen in the background. Dragutin Weingärtner, 1885. (from History of Croatia)
Image 74Marko Marulić (18 August 1450 – 5 January 1524), Croatian poet, lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist who coined the term "psychology". He is the national poet of Croatia. (from Croatia)
Image 75Plitvice Lakes National Park (from Croatia)
Image 76Clockwise from top left: The central street of Dubrovnik, the Stradun, in ruins during the Siege of Dubrovnik; the damaged Vukovar water tower, a symbol of the early conflict, flying the Croatian tricolor; soldiers of the Croatian Army getting ready to destroy a Serbian tank; the Vukovar Memorial Cemetery; a Serbian T-55 tank destroyed on the road to Drniš (from History of Croatia)
Image 77Arena Zagreb. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 78Self-portrait with Dog (Autoportret sa psom) by Miroslav Kraljević (1910) Modern Gallery, Zagreb (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 79Sinjska alka (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 80Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia, Ante Pavelić, shakes hands with Adolf Hitler in 1941. (from History of Croatia)
Image 81Mass protests in Zagreb against the unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918 (from Croatia)
Image 82The Split pluteus with the figure of a king, dating from the 11th century. It is hypothesized to depict a Croatian king, probably Petar Krešimir IV or Zvonimir. It was originally situated in Hollow Church. (from History of Croatia)
Image 83Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from History of Croatia)
Image 84Pelješac Bridge connects the peninsula of Pelješac and through it the southernmost part, including Dubrovnik, with the Croatian mainland. (from Croatia)
Image 85University of Zadar, 1396, Croatia's oldest university (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 86Fans on Poljud stadium during Croatia's biggest football derby between Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 87Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Croatia (from Croatia)
Image 88Satellite image of Croatia (from Croatia)
Image 89Pelješac Bridge in June 2022. (from History of Croatia)
Image 90Šibenik Cathedral, since 2000 on the UNESCO World Heritage List (from Croatia)
Image 91Zlatni Rat beach on the Island of Brač is one of the foremost spots of tourism in Croatia. (from Croatia)

Selected biography - show another

Modrić in 2022

Luka Modrić (Croatian pronunciation: [lûːka mǒːdritɕ]; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Serie A club AC Milan and captains the Croatia national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, and as the greatest Croatian player ever.

Modrić began his professional career with Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb in 2003 before he went on loan spells to Bosnian-Herzegovian side Zrinjski Mostar and Croatian side Inter Zaprešić. He made his debut for Dinamo in 2005 and his great performances earned him a move to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in 2008. He led Spurs to UEFA Champions League qualification in 2010, the club’s first qualification in almost 50 years. In the summer of 2012, Modrić joined Real Madrid for a £30 million transfer fee. In his second season, he won the 2013–14 Champions League title and was named in the squad of the season. After Zinedine Zidane took over Madrid in 2016, Modrić was a key member of Madrid’s three consecutive Champions League titles from 2015–16 to 2017–18, and was named into the squad of the season each time. In total, he won 28 major trophies at Madrid, including six UEFA Champions League titles, four La Liga titles, and two Copa del Rey titles, making him the most decorated footballer in the club's history. He left Real Madrid in July 2025, joining Serie A club AC Milan on a free transfer. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Selected geography article - show another

Inside the Grič Tunnel

Grič Tunnel (Croatian: Tunel Grič) is a pedestrian tunnel located in the city centre of Zagreb, Croatia, under the historic neighbourhood of Grič (also called Gradec or Gornji Grad), which gave the tunnel its name. The tunnel consists of a central hall, which is connected by two passageways to Mesnička Street in the west and Stjepan Radić Street in the east, and four passageways extending to the south. It was built during World War II by the Ustaše government to serve both as a bomb shelter and a promenade, but following the war it quickly fell into disrepair and disuse. The tunnel saw renewed use only in the 1990s, hosting one of the first raves in Croatia, and functioning as a shelter during the Croatian War of Independence. In 2016, the tunnel was remodeled and opened to the public, serving as a tourist attraction and hosting cultural events. Planned expansions include a museum and a lift. (Full article...)