‘Our Beautiful Homeland’ has swept the country for hundreds of years, but was only made Croatia’s official anthem in the 1970s. Croatia’s national anthem, ‘Lijepa naša domovino’ (‘Our Beautiful Homeland’), sings of the country’s beauty and glory, and a deep love of the natural land. The lyrics originate from a poem, ‘Horvatska domovina’ (‘Croatian homeland’), written by Antun Mihanović in 1835. Just over a decade later in 1846, Austrian composer Josip Runjanin set the words to a melody, supposedly inspired by the recitative ‘Ah! O sole, più ratto’ from Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor. Runjanin’s army bandmaster, Josip Wendl, later repurposed the music for a military brass orchestra. The song was only adopted as Croatia’s official national anthem in 1972, among other amendments to the Constitution of Croatia.
‘Our Beautiful Homeland’ has swept the country for hundreds of years.
