Croatia, Part 1

Join Susan and Michael in Croatia - the new "in" spot in Europe. Nena Komarica, General Manager, North America, of the Croatian National Tourist Office sets the scene with a brief geography and history lesson about Croatia. Then we're off to the capital city of Zagreb, with its fabled parks and museums. Finally we end this part of our Croatian journey in the UNESCO World Heritage Plitvia Lakes National Park, a veritable wonderland of waterfalls and lakes. Of course, along the way, we sample Croatian food and wine. Part II of our Croatian adventure in Split and Dubrovnik will air later this month.


To view more about Croatia, check out the Croatian National Tourism Board





Where we'll be exploring

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Croatia

Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and the Balkans. Its capital is Zagreb. Croatia borders with Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Serbia to the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the east, and Montenegro to the far southeast. Its southern and western flanks border the Adriatic Sea.

Croatia is a member of United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Council of Europe, is a candidate for membership of the European Union and received a NATO membership invitation on April 3, 2008. On October 17, 2007, Croatia became a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-2009 term.



To view a more detailed map of Croatia, click here






Art and Culture

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The post First World War period of Croatian art is best remembered for Naive Art which began with the 1931 Zemlja (Soil) exhibition in Zagreb, which introduced the public to works by so-called "peasant painters". These artists were committed to producing art which could be easily understood and appreciated by ordinary people. The predominant colors are blue and green which are taken from nature. The works were in oil, watercolor and on glass.


Below are four examples of Naive Art from The Croatian Museum of Naive Art in Zagreb. Starting from the top left going clockwise, they are: "Avenue" by Ivan Rabuzin, "Four Seasons - Summer" by Ivan Lackovic, "Woodcutters" by Ivan Generalic, and "Winter Landscape with Women" by Mijo Kovacic. Click on them to enlarge.













Below are two more pieces of Croatian art; From left to right they are "Reconstruction of Diocletian's Palace in Split" and "The Ivan Mestrovic Gallery in Split"