Sarah Cosi: …I discovered Croatia on one of my trips back in 2007, where I fell in love with the country (and then ended up marrying a local, who is now also my business partner at Royal Croatian Tours). Since we both love exploring and showing people the beauty of Croatia, opening our own agency just came naturally. We think we make an excellent combo, as Ivan is a local Croatian and knows all of the ins and outs of Croatia, while I’m an expat, and do all of the communication with our guests personally. Coming from Canada, I understand what our guests are looking for when planning their trip, and traveling to a foreign country.
Category: Education
Ivana Marija Vidovic a member of the pianist jury at the International competition in Lviv, Ukraine 2021
Ivana Marija Vidović, concert pianist and poet from the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, participated as a member of the pianist jury at the International Music Competition organized during the Christmas time in Lviv, Ukraine, by the end of 2020. The festival lasted until mid-February 2021. The event was organized at a distance, showing enormous potential of young musicians. For Ivana, it was her second participation in Lviv as a member of the international jury. As many as 2000 young musicians have participated at this international music competition. The city of Lviv has a Middle European touch, as well as Croatia’s capital Zagreb.
Titanic shipwreck and 84 Croatian saviors out of 300 on Carpathia ship
The best known shipwreck in history is that of Titanic in 1912. Another ship called Carpathia , connecting Rijeka in Croatia and New York came to its rescue. Eighty four out of 300 members of the crew of Carpathia were of Croatian origin (i.e., nearly one quarter). We now know many more details about them and about the drama of saving the lives of the Titanic passangers. Duration of the corresponding film shot in Croatia’s capital Zagreb is 47 min. A Croatian lady Marija Bartowski from the city of Osijek was on Carpathia, and her diary contains many details arround the Titanic shipwreck. On Titanic itself, there were 30 Croatian passangers, out of which 15 perished. All of their names are known.
Miracle from Dubrovnik on the 1049th St Vlaho Festivity 2021
The aim of the article is to show just several details from the city of Dubrovnik during the festivity of Sveti Vlaho (St. Blaise), with a special emphasis on children. The festival is organized each February for more than thosand years – precisely 1049. This event connects all the citizens of Dubrovnik with numerous families from the environing towns and villages in picturesque local very solemn dresses, as well as tourists. Dubrovnik is considered as one of the most beautiful cities on the Mediterranean.
Andro Mikelic 1956-2020 distinguished Croatian mathematician in France
Andro Mikelić’s very great scientific talent earned him deserved awards: he was a corresponding member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 2014, he received the InterPore Procter and Gamble Award for Porous Media Research in 2012, after being awarded the W. Romberg Guest Professorship of the University of Heidelberg in 2011. He had collaborations with researchers from all over the world: from France, from the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and of course, from his native Croatia.
Our Lady of the Stone Gate in Croatia's capital Zagreb
The scholarly educational film Our Lady of the Stone Gate in Zagreb , prepared by Dr. Hrvojka Mihanović Salopek, shows the historical veneration of the Mother of God in Zagreb and presents a cultural travelogue through the oldest and most beautiful shrines in Zagreb. The film presents valuable images of Our Lady, as well as statues stored in Zagreb museums. Special attention is paid to rare books and manuscripts preserved in the Metropolitan Library of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, National and University Library and the Museum of the City of Zagreb and to the recitation of old verses.
PingPongParkinson Virtual Reality Championship April 11, 2021
PingPongParkinson has announced the launch of PingPongParkinson Virtual Reality World Championships slated for April 11, 2021. This year’s tournament is the first-ever virtual reality (VR) parkinson’s world table tennis championships, coming after Ping Pong Parkinson, alongside the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and International Table Tennis Federation Foundation (ITTF Foundation) partnered in 2019 to host an inaugural world table tennis championship for players with Parkinson’s Disease.
Jan De Jong interview for the CROWN
Jan: “Instead of importing tomatoes from the Netherlands into Croatia, I strongly believe that we can build the required infrastructure in Croatia to turn this country into a food exporting nation again. But if we wish to compete with other countries, we need to have the best technology currently on the market. And that is exactly what we plan to build in Croatia through our company – CROP… I focus on putting everything in place to ensure we build value within our business – long term.” Jan, you are a bright star on a Croatian horizone. Dobro nam došao
Miro Gavran's plays BEER and ICECREAM online with English subtitles
Theatre Gavran will put their two hit comedy plays by the Croatian hit playwright Miro Gavran on the digital platform. The plays are ICECREAM and BEER and the recordings will be available on Saturday, March 13th at 8PM, the city of Zagreb local time. BEER is a gentle comedy about a Father and his Son. ICECREAM is a comedy with Mladena Gavran and Ana Vilenica as a mother and her daughter in their most dramatic moments. Humour and emotions are intertwined in this story portraying a relationship of two women, who are so different and so alike at the same time.
Josip Sersic 1948-2020 expert in Croatian-Austrian connections
Hrvatski centar gradišćanskih Hrvata u Beču poslao je tužnu obavijest o smrti dr. Josipa Seršića u kojoj stoji: „Na Štefanje, 26. prosinca 2020. g. je preminuo dr. Josip Seršić (71), rodom s otoka Krka, a u Beču posebno poznat i cijenjen kao polihistor, jezikoslovac i prije svega stručnjak za noviju povijest gradišćanskih Hrvata. Izuzetno je aktivno i uvijek mjerodavno sudjelovao u društvenom životu hrvatskih zajednica i udruga u Beču. Posebno je bio vezan uz Hrvatski centar , gdje je bio i sudionik znanstvenog simpozija ‘400 godina Hrvata u Beču’ 2009. godine. Pet godina kasnije, 2014. objavio je zajedno s Mihaelom Ellenbogenom iznimno važnu knjigu ‘Kroatisches Wien / Hrvatski Beč’.
Petrinja and Sisak between the sounds of the earthquake and of classical music
In this article we provide photos and sounds commemorating the earthquake (6.2 degrees on the Richter scale) that by the end of 2020 struck the areas of the towns of Sisak and Petrinja south of Zagreb. The earthquake was felt as far as Italy and Austria. Both towns have already undergone a very slow and complex process of renovation in the period of two and a half decades after the Serbian agression on Croatia. We intersperse the presentation with photos showing its past and present. On the photo – Sisak Angels.
Elizabeth Peratrovich a native woman in Alaska and civil rights pioneer bearing Croatian second name
Elizabeth Peratrovich (1911-1958) was a native Tlingit woman and civil rights pioneer who, in 1945, was instrumental in getting the Alaska legislature to pass what historians cite as the first anti-discrimination law in America (pre-dating the Civil Rights Act by 19 years). In 1988, the state of Alaska designated Feb. 16 — the anniversary of the signing of the act — as a holiday honoring Elizabeth Peratrovich. Her second name of Peratrovich comes from her husband Roy Peratrovich. His father Ivan was born in Croatia on the island of Hvar, and arrived to California in 1860.
Croatian female handball team winning bronze medal at EURO 2020 in Denmark
Near the end of Anno Domini 2020, Croatian Female Handball representation brought us a fantastic gift from Denmark, by winning bronze medal in the semifinals against the host country. Congratulations to the whole team for their efforts, as well as to the trainer and all the accompanying persons. The is the greatest success of Croatian female handball sport in history. On the photo Tea Pijević, amazing Croatian goalkeeper. Furthermore, Croatian medal is the greatest surprise of the tournament.
Croatia shining in 2020
I am sure that many of you, like me, have lived about ten lifetimes this year, the most chaotic, stressful, unpredictable and scary perhaps ever. But we are still here, hanging on, and hoping for better things. But 2020 was not such a disaster for everyone. In fact, if you take a step back from all the doom and gloom and try and look on the brighter side of life, there is an awful lot of positivity to celebrate, especially if you are Croatian. In an effort to balance the understandable depressive posts on the web, here is an ode of recognition to 25 things which made Croatia shine in the pandemic year of 2020. On the photo, an amazing cat-like Croatian island.
Branka Musulin 1917-1975 distinguished Croatian pianist
Branka Musulin, fantastic Croatian pianist, completed the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb at the age of 19. She spent most of her pianistic life in Germany, and played under the baton of Hans Mueller-Kray, Willem Mengelberg, Hermann Abendroth, Franz Konwitschny, Karl Boehm, Georg Solti and Sergiu Celibidache. She had numerous pianist concerts throughout Europe, especially in her native Croatia and in Germany, as well as in Japan. Since 1958, she lectured at the Hochschule fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, first as Dozent and then as Professor. She should not be forgotten!
Maxo Vanka film to be made | American Sistine Chapel
Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka has the following mission: to conserve and protect for permanent public exhibition the nationally recognized Maxo Vanka Murals within St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Pittsburgh, enabling the immigrant artist’s “gift to America” to serve as an enduring catalyst for community engagement and education, inspire social and cultural dialogue, celebrate diversity, and forge connections through reflections on the extraordinary American experience. Murals by Maxo Vanka are not just Croatian cultural heritage. Unique. One and only. The planned film should have been done 50 years ago.
MIRET ecological sneakers made with 97% natural materials
Hrvoje and Domagoj Boljar, from the town of Duga Resa near the city of Karlovac, Croatia: “We are industry insiders who have inherited a factory from our father in our 20s. We have manufactured sneakers for some of the most famous high-end brands in the world. We realised that the footwear industry is horrible to the environment. So we set out to use our manufacturing experience to really redesign shoes from bottom up and make them compatible with nature. Step into durable and comfy unisex sneakers and leave no toxic legacy to the next generations that will walk the Earth.”
Marina Jurica singing meteorologist lead commentator for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2019
Marina Jurica graduated from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) with two degrees: one in Meteorology and the other in Opera Performance. She is persuing both of her passions. She worked in Orlando, Florida, before becoming chief meteorologist at CBS47 in 2016. She was the first female chief meteorologist in the USA, and is still one of the few female chiefs. She appeared as professional opera singer in the Canadian tour of “Les Miserables” and debuted her own show “Seasons of Love” on Broadway in 2018. Her father is from the island of Lastovo, and mother from the city of Opatija, both in Croatia: “I am a first generation American, my ENTIRE family is Croatian. Growing up in a Croatian home and French immersion school, I became tri-lingual quickly.”. On the photo, Marina Jurica is with her son John.
Artur R. Bagdasarov wrote a new monograph: Croatian Language – a View from Russia
Artur R. Bagdasarov, an Armenian scholar living in Moscow, expert in Croatian language, has published a new monograph: Hrvatski jezik. Pogled iz Rusije (Croatian Language – a View from Russia), Moscow 2020, 388 pp. The book is intended primarily for Russian readers willing to learn more about Croatian language. The book can be useful to anybody, from experts to amateurs. Dr. Bagdasarov is a recipient of a prestigious INA Award for his activities in popularizing Croatian culture internationally. Furthermore, he is an author of numerous articles published in various Croatian journals.
Yoko Nishii's lecture about Croatia in the Toba High School in Japan 2020
The city of Toba in Japan has a high school attended by 169 students. Yoko Nishii, living in the city of Ise close to Toba, has delivered a lecture about Croatia, its history and culture, repeated for all six classes of the school (on 25th and 26th October, 2020). Yoko Nishii has prepared 150 beautiful slides dealing with Croatia. She is not only fluent in Croatian language, but as a pianist she visited almost every corner of Croatia: she had as many as 49 soloist concerts in 24 cities throughout the country.