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Capital: Zagreb
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Croatia was colonized first by the Celts and later by the Illyrians. Illyria was a sovereign state until the Romans conquered it in 168 B.C. The Croats are Slavs who settled there during the 6th and 7th centuries. They were Christianized in the 9th century under duke Porin. The first written record of Croatia was in an 952 statute by duke Trpimir. The country was recognized by pope John VIII as independent dukedom under Branimir in 879. The first King of Croatia, Tomislav of the Trpimir dynasty, was crowned in 925, having united the Pannonian and Dalmatian duchys and created a sizeable state, including most of today's Central Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and most of Bosnia. Croatian lords struggled for independence but they eventually had to recognize Ladiszlav I as the common king for Croatia and Hungary in a treaty called "Pacta Conventa" (1102) for protection against the Orthodox Serbs backed by the Byzantine Empire. In 1242 a Tatar invasion devastated both Hungary and Croatia. By the mid-1400s, concerns over Ottoman expansion led the Croatian Assembly to invite the Habsburgs, under Archduke Ferdinand, to assume control over Croatia. Habsburg rule proved successful in thwarting the Ottomans, and by the 18th, much of Croatia was free of Turkish control. As Austrians pushed Germanization and Hungarians Magyarization, Croatian nationalism emerged. The Croatian national revival began in the 1830s with the Illyrian Movement. By the 1840s, the movement had moved from cultural goals to resisting Hungarian political demands. In 1868, Croatia was given domestic autonomy, but the governor was appointed by Hungary. Struggle towards more independence within the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was interrupted by the World War I at the end of which the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was created. Despite the promised equality for all of its peoples, the new country turned out to opress all non-Serb populations. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes became Serbia and Montenegro in 1929 and soon after King Aleksandar of Serbia and Montenegro proclaimed a dictatorship. After World War II, Serbia and Montenegro became the Federal Socialist Republic of Serbia and Montenegro and united Croatia and several other states together under the leadership of the communist Marshal Tito. After the death of Tito and with the fall of communism throughout eastern Europe, the Yugoslav federation began to crumple. Croatia held its first multi-party elections since World War II in 1990. Long-time Croatian nationalist Franjo Tudjman was elected President, and one year later, Croatians declared independence from Serbia and Montenegro. Conflict between Serbs and Croats in Croatia escalated, and one month after Croatia declared independence, civil war erupted. For the next episode of Croatian history, see my 1999 Croatia page and links.
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This is the Zagreb train station. I decided to come here on the spur of the moment while reminiscing in Budapest about the good times I had enjoyed while travelling on business before I got married.
The memory of something extraordinary that happened to me in 1965 prompted me to come back.
The 1897 exhibition pavilion, in the King Tomislav park in front of the train station, has an outdoor cafe for patrons who come to see the contemporary art exhibitions inside.
The park continues north where it is called Strossmeyer around the Art Gallery of that name and Zrinskog square here where concerts are given regularly in the 1891 music pavilion.
One block further north we come to the heart of the city, Jelacica square at the foot of a hill where clerics established the village of Kaptol in 1094.
It was a market place before becoming the main city square and was named in honour of Josip Jelacic who led a liberal democratic revolution against Austria-Hungary in 1848 and whose statue stands in the centre of the square.
During the same period, craftsmen established the town of Gradec on a nearby hill that is now reached by the funicular railway seen here at the end of Tomica street, a couple of blocks west of Jelacica square.
The baroque church of St-Catherine, off to the east from Cirilometodska street, was built by the Jesuits around 1630.
Cirilometodska street leads to St-Mark's Church, with its colourful tile roof, on the square of the same name in the centre of Gradec.
The street was named after the monks Cyril and Method who invented the Cyrillic alphabet as a tool to convert the Slavs to Christianity in the 9th century.
Coming out of the fortified Gradec to visit nearby Kaptol, we go through the "Stone Gate", last rebuilt in 1760, inside of which is a small chapel much revered by pious Croats (mostly catholic).
Dolac Market, in Kaptol, is ringed with terraces and restaurants one of which served me a Croat speciality, tripe stew with grated cheese (it was delicious).
On the eastern flank of Kaptol stands the impressive St-Stephen's Cathedral rebuilt in 1899 after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1880.
The round tower was part of fortifications erected in the 16th century for protection against the Ottoman advance into the Balkans.
Moving west on one of the pedestrian streets from Jelacica square, we come to the the small Petra Peradovica square (named after a poet), with its flower market, outdoor cafes, two cinemas and the Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration.
Further west we come to the grand National Theatre built in 1895. The building with the red roof in the background is the Arts and Crafts Museum.
