In spite of not being as popular and known as many other bigger countries, there are so anythings about Croatia that this country can be proud of. From natural beauty to amazing people who achieved so much in all fields, we can all be proud.
Let’s stress out the top 11 reasons why we adore Croatia!
1.Rimac Automobili – Mate Rimac
Mate Rimac started his electric car business back in 2009 in his garage and today, not even ten years later, his company has become globally famous and one of the investors is the famous Porsche. Today, Rimac has employees from around the world and keeps growing.
A great scientist and a great philosopher in the 12th century, Croatian Herman Dalmatin was one of the most prominent people in his time. Herman known as Herman of Carinthia was Istrian philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, translator, and author who first went to a Benedictine monastic school in Istria. Later after finishing schools in France he decided to travel across Europe and the Middle East while profiling himself as a respected translator. Most of the works he translated were about astrology and the occult since those were the topics that gained his interest. Dalmatin was so deeply enchanted by these subjects that he even wrote some books about it by himself, such as „De indagatione cordis” and „De occultis”. The crown of his work was the translation of the Kur’an on Latin which played a big role in presenting Islam to Christian Europe. After the publishing of the translation, very little information is found on further events in his life but it is known that he inspired numerous scholars and philosophers centuries after his death in 1142
Faust Vrančić was born in the 16th century in Šibenik, was a man of many interests, from lexicography, philosophy, theology, and technology. Besides that, he fluently spoke seven languages.
He moved to Venice to serve as a secretary at the king’s palace, and during that period he published one of his most famous books “Machinae novae” which included detailed sketches, projects, and constructions of all kinds. The book was written in Latin and Italian and later translated into Spanish, German and French. “Machinae novae” was indeed a book ahead of its time with sketches of ideas such as suspended bridges and, of course, the parachute, or, to be more precise, Homo volans, an illustration of a man in a parachute jump that is often misattributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
Although there are only four million inhabitants, Croatia has a large number of world-successful athletes, but the national football team is the one that causes the greatest emotions. After the 1998 generation has celebrated third place at the World Championships in France, twenty years later, the new generation is on the verge of even greater success.
5. Croatia is the world leader in the number of transplants and donated organs
Croatia is one of the world’s leading providers of donated and transplanted organs per million inhabitants as well as transplant outcome, the first being the number of transplanted kidneys and livers per million inhabitants, and the second by the number of transplanted hearts in the world.
6.Plitvice lakes
The Plitvice Lakes National Park is among the most beautiful natural sights in Europe and one of the most visited tourist attractions in Croatia. Every year, around 1.5 million people visit it. Plitvice Lakes were declared a national park in 1949 and thirty years later, in 1979, was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is a wooded mountain area through which one below the other, sixteen lakes of crystalline blue-green color combined with cascades and waterfalls.
7.Successful in many sports
Apart from football, Croatia is also successful in other sports. We can recall the silver medal of basketball players at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Iva Majoli won the 1997 Roland Garros. Goran Ivanišević managed to win Wimbledon on his career break. Janica Kostelic at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002 won the gold medal in slalom, giant slalom and combination, and silver in the super giant slalom. The Croatian Handball Team won the gold medal three times.
8.World Cultural Heritage on the UNESCO list
Due to its size, Croatia has a large number of goods listed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. On the list of world cultural heritage there is the historical complex of Split and Diocletian’s Palace, the Old Town of Dubrovnik, the Plitvice Lakes National Park, the Euphrasian Basilica complex in the historic center of Poreč, the historic town of Trogir, the St. Jacob’s Cathedral in Šibenik, the Starogradsko polje in Hvar, the stećci – medieval graveyard tombstones, defense systems of the Republic of Venice in the 16th and 17th centuries in Zadar and Šibenik, and beech forests and original beech forests.
9.Great discoveries of Croatian scientists
Croatian scientists have participated in numerous great discoveries. For example, a Croatian team led by Professor Ivan Đikić has come up with a discovery that can help early detection and treatment of liver tumors in the future. The scientific discovery was published in a prominent scientific journal of Human Genetics.
10.Humanitarian actions
Numerous times, Croatian citizens have shown that they have a sense of solidarity and a big heart through various humanitarian actions. We can recall the first great humanitarian action Let’s hear, where 17 million kunas was collected to allow hearing-impaired children with artificial puckers.
11.Nikola Tesla – the genius that invented the modern world
We can also be proud of Nikola Tesla, undoubtedly the greatest world inventor we can thank for the world we know today. Tesla has more than 700 inventions, and most important are: a multi-phase current and rotating magnetic field system, an alternating transmission, and distribution system, a Tesla oscillation transformer (Tesla coil), high-frequency lighting, a wireless transmitter, and power system, (ship’s remote control), Tesla’s turbine and radio.
