{"id":90211,"date":"2024-04-22T15:08:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T13:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nsk.hr\/?p=90211"},"modified":"2024-04-23T09:24:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T07:24:52","slug":"croatian-book-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nsk.hr\/en\/blog-en\/croatian-book-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Croatian Book Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spotlighting the most famous work by Marko Maruli\u0107, \u201cthe father of Croatian literature\u201d, the Croatian Book Day this year is observed against a background of the Year of Marko Maruli\u0107<\/a>, Croatia\u2019s year-round programme marking the 500th<\/sup> anniversary of Maruli\u0107\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Established by the 1996 decision of the Croatian Parliament, the Croatian Book Day is celebrated on 22 April to commemorate the date of the completion of Judita<\/a><\/em>, the first epic in the Croatian language, which earned its author, Marko Maruli\u0107 (1450-1524)<\/a>, the title of \u201cthe father of Croatian literature\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cornerstone of Croatian literature<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Also referred to as \u201cthe Croatian Dante\u201d, Maruli\u0107 completed Judita<\/em> on 22 April 1501. After its publication twenty years later, on 13 August 1521, Maruli\u0107 lived to see his masterpiece get another two editions, within less than a year and a half. Until the present day, Judita<\/em> appeared in more than 50 unabridged or partial editions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An epic in six cantos written in Chakavian, one of three major dialects of the Croatian language (along with Shtokavian and Kajkavian), Judita<\/em> thematises the bravery of Judita (Judith), the biblical widow who saved her people, the residents of the Jewish city of Betulija (Bethulia), from the Assyrian general Holoferno (Holofernes). Rendering this biblical story in a unique verse characteristic of Croatian cultural space, a twelve-syllable verse with a double rhyme, and additionally using a characteristic cross rhyme, Maruli\u0107 poignantly addressed the conditions of his age, marked by fear and uncertainty of the people of Split<\/a>, Maruli\u0107\u2019s native town, facing the threat of the Ottoman invasion. Judita<\/em>\u2019s complex and demanding versification scheme reflects all the skill and agility of Maruli\u0107\u2019s poetic talent, which enabled him to combine the conventions of the humanistic poetry with those characteristic of Petrarch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judita<\/em> got its most recent edition in 2021, on the 500th<\/sup> anniversary of the publication of its first edition, when alongside the original\u2019s reprint the Institute for the Croatian Language<\/a> published its adaptation in standard Croatian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pages
Pages from Judita <\/em><\/a>(1521), the first epic in the Croatian language, the date of whose completion is celebrated as the Croatian Book Day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Judita<\/em><\/strong> in the NSK collections<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The NSK Manuscripts and Old Books Collection<\/a> boasts the 1522 edition of Judita<\/em>, which became part of the Library\u2019s holdings in 1886, when Croatian historian, writer, bibliographer and politician Ivan Kukuljevi\u0107 Sakcinski (1816-1889), one of Croatia\u2019s historic figures deserving the greatest credit for the official status of the Croatian language, gave it to the Library as a gift, along with five other books by Maruli\u0107 and Maruli\u0107\u2019s 16th<\/sup>-century manuscript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Library\u2019s Music Collection<\/a> holds manuscript and printed music thematising Judita<\/em>, written by distinguished Croatian composers and librettists for various important occasions in the history of Croatian culture, of which the first was the opening in 1940 of the Croatian National Theatre in Split<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judita<\/em>\u2019s digitised version<\/a> is available as part of the Library\u2019s NSK Digital Collections<\/a><\/em> website, which offers access to the digital collection NSK created in 2018 with the support of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media to make widely available all Maruli\u0107\u2019s works held by the Library<\/a> (Digitalna zbirka djela Marka Maruli\u0107a<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pages<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Relevance in the context of European cultural heritage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Maruli\u0107\u2019s masterly adaptation of the biblical theme and motifs in the Croatian vernacular make Judita<\/em> a significant work of the European Renaissance whose outstanding characteristics, far surpassing the bounds of Croatian literature, resulted in its being translated into English, Hungarian, Italian, French, Lithuanian, partially translated into Slovenian, Spanish, German, Czech and Esperanto and included in the world\u2019s most relevant library catalogues and reference works.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the international presentation of Croatia\u2019s history and culture during Croatia\u2019s presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2020<\/a>, the Library, which acted as the presidency\u2019s seat, organised the Marko Maruli\u0107 \u2013 A European Humanist<\/a><\/em> exhibition, which was subsequently put on across Lithuania and in Switzerland, and whose content particularly focused on Judita<\/em> \u2013 as Maruli\u0107\u2019s major, groundbreaking work and a landmark work of Croatian literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2012, the Croatian Book Day has been marked as part of the Croatian Book Night<\/a>, whose programme this year will feature over 1,150 programmes promoting books and reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spotlighting the most famous work by Marko Maruli\u0107, \u201cthe father of Croatian literature\u201d, the Croatian Book Day this year is observed against a background…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":90223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,166],"tags":[535,536,432],"class_list":["post-90211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en","category-news","tag-croatian-book-day","tag-judita-2","tag-marko-marulic-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCroatian Book Day - Nacionalna i sveu\u010dili\u0161na knji\u017enica u Zagrebu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On 22 April, Croatia marks the Croatian Book Day, spotlighting Judita, a masterly 16th-century adaptation of a biblical story which earned its author, Marko Maruli\u0107, the title of \u201cthe father of Croatian literature\u201d.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nsk.hr\/en\/blog-en\/croatian-book-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Croatian Book Day - 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