Greatest Croatian

The Greatest Croatian (Croatian: Najveći Hrvat) was an open-access poll conducted over five weeks in 2003 by the Croatian weekly Nacional.

The public was invited to vote via the magazine's website, text messages and postcards to determine the "Greatest Croatian" in history. Almost 8,000 votes were received during the course of the poll (6,507 via Internet, 520 text messages and 752 postcards), and the final results were published in the magazine's 6 January 2004 issue.

Final list

Ruđer Bošković, #2

Franjo Tuđman, #4

Janica Kostelić, #15

Rade Šerbedžija, #21

Due to the nature of the poll used to select and rank, the results do not pretend to be an objective assessment. The poll also had no rules on ethnicity or nationality of candidates, with readers free to send in votes for whomever they felt contributed to the history and society of modern-day Croatia.

In addition, Nacional published the list of people ordered by votes received, although two of these were listed twice in duplicate entries, which was likely due to tabulation error:

• Painter Vlaho Bukovac was listed at no. 64 (with 13 votes) and no. 80 (with 7 votes). If these had been added up, he would have moved up to share no. 52 spot, with filmmaker Dušan Vukotić and pop singer Severina.
• Nobel Prize-winning chemist Vladimir Prelog was listed at no. 57 (with 17 votes) and no. 96 (with 2 votes). If these had been added up, he would have moved up to share no. 54 spot, with politician Ivica Račan and folk rock singer Marko Perković Thompson.

Without the two duplicates, the list would have had 96 entries, but since two of these involve pairs of notable people (17th-century noblemen Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan at no. 37, and 19th-century explorer brothers Mirko and Stjepan Seljan at no. 88) the list ends up having 98 individuals.

They are as follows:

1. Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), revolutionary, statesman and president of Yugoslavia 1953–1980
2. Ruđer Bošković (1711–1787), physicist, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher
3. Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981), writer, playwright and poet
4. Franjo Tuđman (1922–1999), statesman, President of Croatia 1990–99
5. Dražen Petrović (1964–1993), basketball player, Olympic silver medalist
6. Stjepan Mesić (b. 1934), President of Croatia 2000–10
7. Tin Ujević (1891–1955), poet
8. Stevo Karapandža (b. 1947), celebrity chef
9. Tomislav of Croatia (?–928), 10th-century ruler of Croatia
10. Rahim Ademi (b. 1954), Croatian Army general
11. Stipe Šuvar (1936–2004), sociologist and politician
12. Vlado Gotovac (1930–2000), poet and politician
13. Ivan Meštrović (1883–1962), sculptor and architect
14. Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815–1905), Roman Catholic bishop, benefactor and politician
15. Janica Kostelić (b. 1982), alpine ski racer, Olympic gold medalist
16. Stjepan Radić (1871–1928), early 20th century politician
17. Josip Jelačić (1801–1859), 19th-century Ban (viceroy) of Croatia
18. Ante Starčević (1823–1896), 19th-century politician
19. Alojzije Stepinac (1898–1960), Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Zagreb 1937–1960
20. Branimir Štulić (b. 1953), singer, songwriter and poet
21. Rade Šerbedžija (b. 1946), stage and film actor
22. Matija Gubec (c. 1556–1573), 16th-century leader of a peasant revolt
23. Mirko Ilić (b. 1956), graphic designer and comics artist
24. Miroslav Radman (b. 1944), biologist
25. Ivan Supek (1915–2007), physicist, philosopher, and writer
26. Franjo Kuharić (1919–2002), Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Zagreb 1970–1997
27. Branko Bauer (1921–2002), film director
28. Ante Gotovina (b. 1955), Croatian army lieutenant-general
29. Miljenko Smoje (1923–1995), writer and journalist
30. Goran Ivanišević (b. 1971), tennis player, winner of Wimbledon
31. Marija Jurić Zagorka (1873–1957), journalist and novelist
32. Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874–1938), children's writer
33. Ljudevit Gaj (1809–1872), 19th-century linguist, politician and writer
34. Marko Marulić (1450–1524), 15th-century poet
35. Petar Zrinski (1621–1671) & Fran Krsto Frankopan (1643–1671), 17th-century noblemen, leaders of the Magnate conspiracy
36. Mile Dedaković (b. 1951), soldier, one of the Croatian commanders in the 1991 Battle of Vukovar
37. Lavoslav Ružička (1887–1976), scientist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate
38. Juraj Dalmatinac (1410–1473), medieval sculptor and architect
39. Krešimir Ćosić (1948–1995), basketball player, Olympic medalist and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee
40. Slavoljub Penkala (1871–1922), engineer and inventor, created the mechanical pencil
41. Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), author and politician
42. Ivan Gundulić (1589–1638), baroque Ragusan poet
43. Arsen Dedić (1938–2015), singer-songwriter, composer and poet
44. Marin Držić (1508–1567), renaissance Ragusan playwright
45. Tarik Filipović (b. 1972), actor and television personality
46. Goran Bregović (b. 1950), musician and composer
47. Mate Ujević (1901–1967), poet and lexicographer
48. Savka Dabčević-Kučar (1923–2009), politician, one of the leaders of the Croatian Spring movement
49. Miroslav Blažević (b. 1935), association football coach, led Croatia to third place in the 1998 FIFA World Cup
50. Dušan Vukotić (1927–1998), cartoonist, winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
51. Severina Vučković (b. 1972), pop singer and actress
52. Ivica Račan (1944–2007), politician and prime minister of Croatia 2000–2003
53. Marko Perković Thompson (b. 1966), pop singer
54. Ivan Goran Kovačić (1913–1943), poet and writer, killed in World War II
55. Vladimir Prelog (1906–1998), scientist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate
56. Branko Lustig (1932–2019), film producer, two-time Academy Awards winner
57. Dražen Budiša (b. 1948), politician, one of the leaders of the Croatian Spring movement
58. Mate Parlov (1948–2008), boxer, Olympic gold medalist
59. Vatroslav Lisinski (1819–1854), 19th-century composer
60. Faust Vrančić (1551–1617), polymath and inventor, best known for his 16th-century parachute design
61. Boris Dvornik (1939–2008), actor
62. Vlaho Bukovac (1855–1922), painter
63. Andrija Štampar (1888–1958), promoter of social medicine
64. Bernard Vukas (1927–1983), footballer, best known for his two spells at HNK Hajduk Split
65. Zinka Kunc (1906–1989), opera soprano, performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera and Milan's La Scala opera houses
66. Antun Mihanović (1796–1861), poet, best known for penning the lyrics to the Croatian anthem
67. Fabijan Šovagović (1932–2001), actor
68. Slavenka Drakulić (b. 1949), writer and journalist
69. August Šenoa (1838–1881), 19th-century novelist
70. Andrija Maurović (1901–1981), comic book artist, known as the "father of Croatian comics"
71. Antun Augustinčić (1900–1979), sculptor
72. Ante Topić Mimara (1898–1987), art collector, founder of the Mimara Museum
73. Edo Murtić (1921–2005), painter
74. Ivo Pogorelić (b. 1958), pianist
75. Bruno Bušić (1939–1978), promoter of Croatia's independence, assassinated in exile in 1978
76. Frano Supilo (1870–1917), politician and journalist, founder of Novi list daily
77. Goran Višnjić (b. 1972), actor, best known for starring in the American TV series ER
78. Vlaho Bukovac (duplicate entry, see #64)
79. Andrija Hebrang (1899–1949), politician
80. Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger (1856–1936), paleontologist, discovered the Neanderthal site near Krapina
81. Juraj Križanić (1618–1683), 17th-century Catholic missionary
82. Marin Getaldić (1568–1626), Ragusan scientist, best known for his work in optics
83. Antun Gustav Matoš (1873–1914), poet and essayist
84. Franjo Šeper (1905–1981), Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Zagreb 1960–1970
85. Oliver Mlakar (b. 1935), television presenter
86. Mirko Seljan (1871–1913) & Stjepan Seljan (1875–1936), explorers best known for their travels in South America and Africa
87. Ivan Lupis (1813–1875), officer of the Austrian Navy, credited as the inventor of the torpedo
88. Ante Trumbić (1864–1938), politician
89. Franjo Trenk (1711–1749), Austrian officer, known as "father of the military band"
90. Ivo Robić (1923–2000), singer and songwriter
91. Ivan Generalić (1914–1992), naïve art painter
92. Lovro pl. Matačić (1899–1985), conductor
93. Slava Raškaj (1877–1906), 19th-century deaf woman painter
94. Vladimir Prelog (duplicate entry, see #57)
95. Branko Gavella (1885–1962), theatre director and essayist
96. Krešo Golik (1922–1996), film director and screenwriter
97. Bartol Kašić (1575–1650), linguist, wrote the first Croatian grammar and translated the Bible into Croatian
98. Marko Turina (b. 1937), cardiac surgeon, first surgeon to operate a congenital heart defect on a newborn

See also

• 100 Greatest Britons
  • Greatest Britons spin-offs

External links

• Robert Bajruši (23 December 2003). "Tito i Tesla u borbi za naslov najvećeg Hrvata" [Tito and Tesla head to head for the title of the greatest Croat]. Nacional (in Croatian). No. 423. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2020.