THE 900TH ANNIVERSARY OF ZAGREB AND THE ZAGREB DIOCESE

Motifs: the Late Gothic bishop’s staff (15th c.), Valvasor’s view of Zagreb with the Cathedral (17th c.), a printed music sheet from St. Justine’s breviary (13th c.), a Zagreb gas lantern on a photo by Tošo Dabac (20th c.), St. Mark’s Church on Gradec (13th to 19th c.), the "Maxi Cat" figure from Zlatko Grgić’s series of animated films, the Zagreb School of Animated Film (20th c.), the airplane constructed by S. Penkala, inventor from Zagreb (20th c.), the building of the Zagreb Exchange, designed by the architect V.Kovačić from Zagreb (20th c.), the Glass Tower of the office building Cibona, designed by the architects M. Hržić, I. Piteša and B. Šerbetić (1986-7). Christianity set in on the territory of the Croatian state in the 3rd century under the influence of Roman culture. It was promoted by Roman soldiers and merchants so that, despite persecution, several bishoprics have been founded in the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia. At the beginning of the 7th century we can note the advance of Croatian tribes on the European historical stage. Having defeated the Avars after many years of fighting, the Croats drove them away and settled down to stay for ever on the present-day historic and ethnic territory. This is where they encountered the already developed Christianity, i.e., the Roman Catholic faith, whose influence they accepted and were baptized without being forced to do so. The close links of Croatioa to Roman Catholicism and the Holy See have remained permanent and strong ever since. Thus Pope John VIII acknowledged the independent Croatian state in his letter to Prince Branimir in the year 879; Pope Gregory VII sent his legate to crown Zvonimir as Croatian king in 1075. One of the most important events in this historical development was the founding of the Zagreb Bishopric. It was the Hungarian King Ladislav I who founded it in 1094, "inspired by God’s grace" and driven by the wish "to bring back onto the path of truth through bishops’ care those who have been misled by their false beliefs and whom idolatry kept away from honouring God". Besides the justifiable religious reasons, Ladislav was moved to this act by political interests too, as he wanted to strengthen the influence of the Arpad dynasty in Croatia. There is no written chart regarding the founding of the Zagreb Bishopric, but the event has been testified by the document issued by archbishop Felician from the city of Esztergom in 1134. We learn from this document that the first bishop of Zagreb was Duh, Czeck by origin, and that he was nominated by king Ladislav himself. The newly-founded bishopric was submitted to the archbishopric of Esztergon. With the bishop’s seat established, the settlement Kaptol with its houses built for the church functionaries, the canons, was developed and the building of the new cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and to St. Stephen, was completed in 1217. Thus Zagreb, the Zagreb Bishopric and the Zagreb Cathedral entered history. Together with this series of four stamps in sale in sheets of 20 stamps each, Croatian Post and Telecommunications issued the block, commemorative first day covers and the first day sheet.