JOSIP JURAJ STROSSMAYER DANAS
JOSIP JURAJ STROSSMAYER TODAY

Summary/Abstract: The year 2005 marks the I90th anniversary of birth and the centenary of death of dr. Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905) who was the bishop of Bosnia, Đakovo and Srijem and the apostolic vicar for Serbia. On the occasion of these anniversaries, his life and his exceptionally rich and complex heritage and work in diverse fields such as the national, patriotic, ecclesiastic, political, cultural, educational and the economic one was subject to the scientific and professional revalorization. Even in his lifetime some foreigners emphasized his importance in Europe even comparing it with the one of Bismarck. In Croatia he is considered - together with his political opponent dr. Ante Starčević - the most important and most famous politician of the 19th century. Due to his activities in the Catholic Church in general and in the political life of the Habsburg Monarchy, he is well-known abroad. In reaction to the obviously very strong and furious Pan-German, Pan-Hungarian and Pan-Italian practical nacionalistic and imperialistic tendencies, he accepted the ideas of Pan-Slavism and Austro-Slavism, which was in line with the politics of the Holy See. In that field he has made some concrete moves; together with the canon and historian dr. F. Rački he initiated the Croatian south Slavic (not Yugoslav!) national ideology and pleaded for the establishment of the south Slavic state which would have stretched from the Slovenian Alps to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, and from the river Danube on the border with Hungary to the river Vardar in Macedonia. Bishop Strossmayer has also established or initiated the establishment of numerous institutions and organizations, newspapers and magazines. He was also the patron in the fields of culture and education. For example, he established and patronized the first scientific, cultural and educational institutions in the southern parts of the South Slavic territories, among them the Yugoslav (more precisely: South Slavic, today: Croatian) Academy of Sciences and Arts. He has financed many of the Academy's activities, the building of its palace in Zagreb and the formation of its picture gallery and library. He has also had a very strong influence on the establishment of the first Croatian University, the one in Zagreb.

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