“Heritage at Hand at CroAtrium” 2026 opening with music

The 2026 edition of Heritage at Hand at CroAtrium, a special programme of the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) spotlighting the treasures of Croatia’s largest library collection, is opening soon!

The programme’s first event, presenting the holdings of the NSK Music Collection, will be held on 5 March 2026 in the Library’s side lobby, starting at 13.00.

Celebrating the legacy of prominent figures of Croatia’s 20^th-century classical music

Symbolically organised on the anniversary of the death of the first Croatian female composer Dora Pejačević, the event will feature a lecture and mini concert highlighting Pejačević’s oeuvre as well as the legacy of Croatia’s first professional musicologist Božidar Širola.

In his lecture, musicologist Domagoj Marić, who is also the author of a comprehensive monograph on Pejačević’s life and work, will talk about the challenges that he faces in researching music collections and their importance for understanding both music and its creators.

After the lecture, mezzosoprano Sofija Cingula and pianist Ivan Batoš will give a performance of two compositions that Širola set to verses by Croatian poet Dragutin Domjanić and of Pejačević’s piece set to Liebeslied, a poem by Reiner Maria Rilke.

Participation in the programme is free of charge and no registration is needed.

NSK’s successful presentation of Croatica goes on

Always searching for new ways to bring closer to as wide a range of audiences as possible the invaluable heritage of Croatica, Croatia’s national library collection under our care, last year we launched the Heritage at Hand programme. The participants in the programme’s events held so far had a unique opportunity for first-hand encounters with some of the gems in our four special collections, the most valuable part of the Library’s holdings.

Through this year’s rich programme of lectures, exhibitions, presentations, get-togethers and a Heritage at Hand international symposium, we will continue to bring to the attention of various audiences the wealth of Croatian cultural heritage that we curate.

Apart from music and cartographic material, in cooperation with heritage experts from the University of Zadar, University of Rijeka, the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts, the Croatian Language and Linguistics Institute and with artists we will also showcase visual poetry, expose a Sherlock Holmes in disguise and bring from the fringes into the spotlight the nearly or entirely unknown Croatian translations of the Bible.

Let’s get together in discovering and celebrating heritage, again!