“Heidi: From a literary heroine to a global icon” exhibition opening on 2 Apr 2026

On 2 April 2026, this year’s International Children’s Book Day, the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) will host the opening of Heidi: From a literary heroine to a global icon, an exhibition it organised in cooperation with The Heidiseum Foundation.

Supported by the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation to the Republic of Croatia, Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the Swiss Confederation and the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media, the exhibition celebrates Heidi, the title character of a world-famous work by Swiss writer Johanna Spyri, and her global legacy, and will remain on view by 17 April in the Library’s grand lobby.  

Since the publication of its first volume in 1880, the story of an orphaned girl sent to live with her grandfather in the idyllic environment of the Swiss Alps and her adventures found its way from Switzerland’s cultural heritage to the hearts and imagination of children all around the world. So far, it has been translated into more than 70 languages, while its first Croatian edition appeared in 1943.

Heidi in Croatia

Presenting the charming heroine in the Croatian context, the exhibition will feature a selection of the novel’s over 70 editions preserved as part of the NSK collections.

In addition to evidencing Heidi’s continued popularity in Croatia throughout the decades, especially since 1960, when it was included in required school reading, these editions will also give the exhibition visitors insight into a deep mark that Heidi has left on Croatian book design, illustration and the culture of reading.

Showcasing a global legacy granted UNESCO status

Along with Heidi’s Croatian editions, the exhibition will also include the novel’s editions in German and its translations from the Heidiseum’s archive, whose status as a global legacy, along with that of the Johanna Spyri archive, maintained by the Swiss Institute for Children’s and Youth Media, was confirmed in 2023 through the archives’ inclusion in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.

An overview which the exhibition will give of Heidi’s legacy, encompassing a wealth of media and formats ranging from illustration and stage and screen adaptations to Heidi’s interpretation in comics and AI-generated content, will show how Heidi’s character and its perception has evolved and transformed over more than a century.

Honouring Johanna Spyri, Heidi’s literary mum

The exhibition will also usher in the celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Spyri, who through her skill not only created one of the loveliest characters of children’s literature but also wrote an all-time classic whose story of friendship, trust and the love of home still resonates with readers all across the world, proving particularly relevant in the face of the growing conflicts the world has been experiencing recently.

The exhibition to be put on in libraries and schools all across Croatia

The participants in the exhibition’s opening programme will include the President of The Heidiseum Foundation’s Board of Trustees Dr Peter Otto Büttner and Professor at the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Teacher Education Diana Zalar. After its presentation at the Library by 17 April, the exhibition will be put on in public and school libraries all across Croatia as ideal places for today’s children and the younger generations to discover this great masterpiece and its powerful message.