The History and Thematics of Croatian
Postage Stamps
On the territory of the Republic of
Croatia the first postage stamp was used on June 1st 1850. The
association of philatelists was founded 16 years later, and the first
important International Philatelic Exhibition was organised in 1907 in
the Art Pavilion in Zagreb.
In the twentieth century the
postal administrations of several state systems on the territory of
Croatia continued issuing postage stamps, which used the printed titles
of the respected states from 1850 until the 15th of January 1992.
The
creation of the first postage stamp of the Republic of Croatia was
issued in 1991, one year before the international recognition of
Croatia’s independence.
In February 1991 the
Parliament of the Republic of Croatia appointed the Commission in charge
of issuing of the postage stamps of the Republic of Croatia. Duties of
the Commission were: to make plans for issuing the postage stamps,
selecting the theme, inviting tenders for the artistic solution of the
chosen themes, selecting the best artistic solution, taking care of
printing and monitoring of the printing process etc. The working
conditions were not favourable – regarding either the staff or legal
basis and technical support.
In Croatia, when everything
started from scratch, the only assets on our side were positive
attitude, national pride, professionalism and some luck. On the other
hand some outside conditions were not very favourable and the conditions
were very problematic. The Republic of Croatia at that time was still a
member of the Yugoslav federation, which was at that time still the
member of the Universal Postal Union. In consideration of these
conditions the Croatian Post decided to start issuing the charity stamp.
According to the relevant legislation the non-postal institutions issue
the charity stamps and the post is only acting as the distributor.
The
first charity stamp was issued on 1st April 1991. In this series of
charity stamps in favour of “Hrvatski radiša” (the Croatian Worker), as
the first of six issues, the gold-black postage stamp, designer Boris
Bućan, “Mass for Homeland in Zagreb Cathedral” was issued (this
beautiful postage stamp remains for ever written down in golden letters
as part of the history of the postage stamps of the Republic of
Croatia). That occasion marked for the first time the use of the frame
of the selling sheet with thirty places and twenty-five postage stamps
in which the thirteenth position is the coat of arms, the twenty-fourth,
twenty-fifth, twenty-ninth and thirtieth is the enlarged motive of the
postage stamp (without nominal value). The mentioned sheet was named
“the Croatian sheet” and under this name became well known in the world.
Since 1995 the Croatian sheet has also been used for certain issues of
postage stamps for some special occasions. The Croatian Post continued
with issuing the charity postage stamps until January 1992.
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From July 17th 1991, upon the
decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia the issuing of
these postage stamps for regular airmail began. The charity stamps were
issued for airmail destinations to Zagreb-Dubrovnik, Zagreb-Split,
Zagreb-Pula and Zagreb-Osijek. The mentioned charity stamps were to be
used only for domestic traffic and affixed alongside the regular
Yugoslav postage stamps.
On September 9, 1991 the first
regular postage stamp of the Republic of Croatia was published as an
additional tariff, with the value of one Yugoslav dinar for airmail post
to Zagreb-Dubrovnik. Since 1995, September 9th has been celebrated as
the Day of the Croatian Stamp. Each year on that particular date a
commemorative postage stamp has been issued.
In December 1991, the first
commemorative postage stamps of the Republic of Croatia were issued. The
first one on December 10th commemorating the date of the Proclamation of
Independence, the second on December 11th, the Christmas postage stamp.
On January 15, 1992 when Croatia was internationally recognised its’
postage stamps acquired all the attributes of official means of postage
payment for national and international traffic.
In the first ten years of
issuing the Croatian postage stamps the nominal values have been printed
in three currencies: Yugoslav dinar (1991), Croatian dinar (from 1992
till the May 1994) and Kuna (since June 1994).
THE THEMES OF THE POSTAGE STAMPS
The
Croatian postage stamps featured in the last decade numerous themes.
Historic events, personalities from the distant and recent past, the
Croatian War of Independence, admission of Croatia into CEPT and the
United Nations, Croatian natural heritage and tourist centres
(mountains, lakes, coastline and islands, cities, fortresses, convents,
flora and fauna, palaeontology, sport achievements, individuals,
Olympics, competitions), Croatian Art (paintings, sculptures,
architecture-artists and their work), literature (writers and their
work), music, philosophy, science, inventions, language, cultural and
scientific institutions (Matica, HAZU) and numerous other themes.
Besides the domestic topics from the origins of the tie (kravat) and the
Parliament many foreign topics were also taken as the theme of the
postage stamps such as the discovery of America and so forth. Also the
Christmas postage stamp has been issued each year. At times two of them
for domestic and for foreign traffic.
A large number of specialists
were involved in the creation and production of Croatian Croatian
postage stamps.
These include prominent artists, painters,
designers, engravers, and young students that utilized their skills and
talents. They all deserve to be mentioned and in alphabetical order:
Ivan Antolčić, Nevenka Arbanas, Lovro Artuković, Ivica Belinić, Josip
Biffel, Želimir Borić, Josip Botteri Dini, Davor Bruketa, Boris Bućan,
Dragutin Cifrek, Zlatko Čular, Nenad Dogan, Maja Franić, Orsat
Franković, Petar Jakelić, Darko Jakić, Zlatko Jakuš, Ratko Janjić Jobo,
Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač, Zlatko Keser, Sanja Kirinić, Eugen Kokot, Rudolf
Labaš, Ivan Lacković Croata, Zvonimir Lončarić, Ivan Lovrenčić, Boris
Ljubičić, Toni Nikolić, Frane Paro, Danijel Popović, Vojo Radoičić,
Sanja Rešček, Branko Silađin, Hrvoje Šercar, Ivica Šiško, Nikola Šiško,
Miroslav Šutej, Zdravko Tišljar, Mladen Veža, Dubravka Zglavnik, Dragan
Žilić, Nikola Žinić, Nada Žiljak i Vilko Žiljak.
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