The Baška Tablet, one of the earliest preserved written monuments in Croatian, dated about 1100. This white limestone tablet, which measures 199 x 99.5 x 9 cm, contains the first mention of the word Croatia in Croatian – in the title given to Zvonimir, 'king of the Croats'.

Banski Dvori, the seat of the Government, on St. Mark’s Square in Zagreb; this historical building was the residence of the Croatian bans (governors) until 1918. Until the shelling in 1991, during the Homeland War, Banski Dvori was the seat of the President of the Republic. According to 'Twiplomacy 2013', an annual global study of world leaders on Twitter by Burson-Marsteller, with 33.8 tweets per day, the Croatian Government (@ VladaRH) is third in the world among the most active on Twitter.

The crowning of the Croatian king Tomislav, Oton Iveković (detail, 1904-1905). Tomislav was crowned as the first Croatian king in 925.

The Zagreb–Split motorway (A1), Žuta Lokva intersection. Croatia has over 1,250 km of motorways, of which about 1,000 km were built in the last fifteen years. Brinje Tunnel, on the A1 motorway, was awarded the FIA prize in Brussels in 2008 as one of the safest tunnel in Europe.

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.

Ancient times and the early Christian period

Thanks to trade routes and communications, the ancient peoples of the Bronze and Iron Ages living in the land which is present-day Croatia were in touch with the artistic output of the Greek and Etruscans ...

Nature protection

A large number of protected natural areas and features show that Croatia is a country of exceptional, diverse, and comparatively well-preserved natural beauty, of which some examples, such as the Plitvice Lakes, are famous ...

Inventions and inventors

Croatia is considered the home of many inventions which have transformed human existence, several of which are used in everyday life ...

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 ...

Geo-Communication position

As an Adriatic, Central European country, and part of the Danube valley, Croatia enjoys a favourable geo-communication position. Thus several pan-European transport corridors and their branches pass through Croatia ...

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 ...

Between Venice, Vienna and Pest

In the Great (Viennese) War (1683–99), large parts of Croatia and Slavonia were liberated from Ottoman rule and the border of the Dubrovnik Republic was finally determined. The Venetian Republic, which had established ...

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 ...