Kornati National Park (1980), south of Šibenik and Zadar, encompasses an archipelago of about one hundred islands and islets. Enchanted by the beauty of its landscape, the Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw wrote: 'On the last day of the Creation, God desired to crown His work and thus created Kornati Islands out of tears, stars and breath'.

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.

Ivan Meštrović, Fountain of Life, a sculpture in front of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. Life expectancy in Croatia is 80 years for women and 73 years for men.

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.

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.

Education system

The beginnings of schools and education in Croatia date back to the 10th century, and up to the 18th century were linked to the Church and priesthood. Systematic education of the people began during the reign of Maria Theresa, who issued ...

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 ...

Regions

The region of modern Croatia covers a large number of historical and geographical regions of different origins and size. These reflect the political fragmentation of the Croatian lands in the past, and partly also the position of Croatia at the meeting-point ...

Inventions and inventors

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

Sport

Croatians are a sporting nation; sport is part of the compulsory curriculum in schools at all levels of education. Many children and young people take part in extracurricular sporting activities, which are also seen as a way of life in recreational terms ...

Demographic picture

With a population density of 76 per km², Croatia is one of the more sparsely populated European countries, along with Norway, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland and Bulgaria. In the last 150 years, several factors have influenced population ...

Language

The Croatian language belongs to the South Slavic group of languages. It is the official language of the Republic of Croatia, and is also spoken by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia (Vojvodina), Montenegro (Bay of Kotor), Austria ...

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 ...