March the 9th, 2023 - The Croatian-Austrian startup PlanRadar is making waves on the other side of the world, with the digitalisation of the largest infrastructure project in Tasmanian history.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the Croatian-Austrian startup PlanRadar, a company whose eponymous cloud platform has been designed to digitise construction processes, has been selected as the software supplier for the 786 million Australian dollars (500.45 million euros) Bridgewater Bridge project over the Derwent River in Australia.

The work of building the bridge is being managed by Burbury Consulting, and it is the largest infrastructural transport project in the entire history of Tasmania.

It's interesting to note, as they pointed out from PlanRadar itself, that the Peljesac bridge project right here in Croatia was one of their main references for getting this job in distant Australia. Domagoj Dolinsek, the founder of the Croatian-Austrian startup PlanRadar, explained that this is their biggest project in Australia so far, and also one of the biggest in the world.

A strategic step forward

"We've been present in Australia for a year, and with last year's investment in our company of 69 million US dollars, a stronger exit from the European market to the global market, primarily North America, the Middle East and Australia, was made possible," explained Dolinsek.

The new Bridgewater Bridge project will use PlanRadar to manage all of its various inspections, quality assessments, task management, construction documentation, site audits and other key aspects of construction project management. PlanRadar pointed out that they are a leading player in this particular industry with over 120,000 clients in their global base using their property and construction project management software platform, and this is their first infrastructure mega-project in Australia.

“PlanRadar has previously been used in similar infrastructure projects across Europe, notably in the case of Peljesac Bridge, one of Europe's largest construction projects, along with its surrounding network of roads and tunnels. The Peljesac Bridge project is still one of the largest mega infrastructure projects in southern Croatia, with a total value of 550 million euros,'' they stated.

Bart Crowther, the Croatian-Austrian startup PlanRadar's regional manager for Australia emphasised the importance of this project for their future presence in that part of the world. "The opportunity to work on any infrastructure project of this scale is truly extraordinary, and the positive impact on the Tasmanian community, both for the 22,000 daily users of the future bridge and for the improvement of freight and logistics routes on it, is extremely important to us. We're looking forward to working with the Tasmanian Government and the Burbury Consulting teams and helping guide their day-to-day ongoing site inspection processes,” Crowther said. A Burbury Consulting representative said PlanRadar was chosen for this project because of its data-driven reporting capabilities.

"When it came time to choose our project inspection software, we unanimously chose PlanRadar because of their ease of use and incredibly detailed data-driven reporting capabilities that help us better manage timely reporting, inspections, audits and verifications," it was stated.

Otherwise, this new Bridgewater Bridge will replace the existing 75-year-old cable-span bridge and will have a length of one kilometre in total. The main works on the bridge started last year, and it is estimated that it will be completed in 2024. The river crossing between Bridgewater and Granton in Tasmania has a long history and the first bridge was opened in 1848.

The existing Bridgewater Bridge was built back in 1946 and is the fourth bridge at this location, but the planning to replace this bridge began over 20 years ago, with many different designs and plans developed over that time, and the current project was completed and finally approved in 2018. The Croatian-Austrian startup PlanRadar, born from the idea of builder and founder Domagoj Dolinsek, enables the management of all construction documentation via mobile phones, tablets and computers, and is used in both the construction industry and on the real estate market.

By digitising the workflow, PlanRadar reduces the frequency of what could be costly and frustrating errors, saves time for all parties involved and enables huge efficiency gains: users report saving an average of seven working hours every week.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

November the 25th, 2022 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had everything from wage increases for politicians and state officials and saying an emphatic ''YES'' to training Ukrainian soldiers, to Austria changing its tune regarding Croatian Schengen accession and Milanovic claiming that it's actually America fighting with Russia through Ukraine.

The monthly wage earned by Plenkovic, his ministers and parliamentarians is set to go up

Much to the delight of every average Joe living and working in Croatia and struggling to make ends meet, Plenkovic and co are set to get a wage increase. 

You'll probably remember that last month, the government and the trade unions finally came to an agreement on a basic salary increase, meaning that the monthly salary will also increase for Plenkovic, Milanovic, Jandrokovic, government ministers and members of parliament, that is, for all officials. However, with the passing of this particular law, the President of the Constitutional Court will be taking home the highest official salary, and not President Zoran Milanovic.

With the amendments to the law that the government sent to the parliament recently, for which it is requesting adoption under an urgent procedure, the base rate for officials will be the same as that applied to civil servants, so all future increases, including this one now, will automatically apply to politicians as well.

One Ukrainian minister thanks Croatia for allowing Ukrainian soldiers to come and be trained to fight the Russians in Croatia

''Thanks, Plenkovic!'' tweets the minister...

You might recall the likes of President Zoran Milanovic among others being staunchly against the idea of training Ukrainian soldiers to fight against their invaders here in Croatia. Milanovic believed that Croatia's showcasing of unwavering support for Ukraine and providing help and safety for refugees was enough, and that anything else would be provocation of Putin and inviting the war to this country's doorstep. Many agreed with him. Many more found themselves surprised at agreeing with him.

Still, it seems that his case for disapproval fell on deaf ears as the Ukrainian Defence Minister, Oleksij Reznikov, thanked Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi and Defense Minister Marij Banozic on Twitter after the government sent the decision on Croatia's participation in the military aid mission to Ukraine for approval by the parliament yesterday.

"The government of the Republic of Croatia approved the decision to train the Ukrainian army in Croatia. A modern, well-trained army with powerful partners will definitely defeat a pack of Russian murderers, robbers and rapists. Thank you Andrej Plenkovic and Mario Banozic for their support!" Reznikov tweeted.

Croatia's participation in the military aid mission to Ukraine includes the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia, which isn't something many people are all too thrilled about. Banozic, however, seems to have allowed all logical opposition to this fly right over his head. ''What are they against? Are they against saving lives?'' he asked.

Zoran Milanovic claims that America is fighting a war against Russia... through Ukraine

If you're a follower of Croatian politics in any deeper capacity, you'll know that President Milanovic often comes out with some rather unusual things. He also never misses an opportunity to spit on HDZ, which for many makes him a popular character in at least one aspect. For others, his distasteful remarks cross the line a bit too often, and for others, well, they can't quite make head nor tail of him. He has recently come out with something quite strange.

The Day of the City of Zadar took place recently, which is celebrated at a formal session of the City Council, and Milanovic was there. As expected, he referred to the government's decision to train Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia which I mentioned above, and which he was firmly against. "This is personal terror and harassment by Plenkovic, it's just his desire to push some of his ideas," said Milanovic, as RTL reported at the time.

President Milanovic also said that he knows what is written in the Croatian Constitution because ''he wrote it''. He was referring to the statement of the government at that session that the training of Ukrainian soldiers is based on the Constitution and on the laws and international agreements according to which Ukraine is an allied country.

''Therefore,'' Milanovic added: "Ukraine, to its credit, is not an ally." "The Croatian Parliament is not responsible for making any decisions on the training of foreign soldiers in Croatia," he said. He called things as they were set up by the government a "Udbas sabotage", which, if you know who the ''Udbasi'' (the Yugoslav secret service) were and what they got up to, you'll realise is quite the statement.

"Now it will be seen who's Russia and who's for Ukraine. I'm not for anyone. I'm for Croatia,'' Milanovic said.

"There's a war going on there between America and Russia. Between Russia and Ukraine, I'm on the side of Ukraine, of course. But it's a war between America and Russia," he said. "We have to state that the Americans are waging a war against Russia through Ukrainian youths, we have to say that. When it comes to decisions that have a security and defense character, you have to consult with the president, and I say to the members of parliament: ''Don't be intimidated,'' he said.

New measures against inflation could come to be, and all hands are on deck for post-earthquake reconstruction (for the earthquake that occurred two years ago)

Plenkovic recently pointed out that the proposed state budget for next year will provide funds for the growth of both wages and pensions, increased funds for veterans and the army, and he also announced possible new measures to mitigate the impact of inflation, with the message that "there's power and space for that".

"We have the space and strength to do that, if there's a need, and considering the circumstances, our measures will be precise and comprehensive, and as we've done so far, we'll solve it and you'll be satisfied with what we do,'' said Plenkovic in response to Branko Grcic (SDP ) when asked what will happen at the end of March next year, when all previous measures are due to expire.

''We'll also reduce excise duties on heating oil and thereby provide additional assistance to people,'' announced the Prime Minister during the parliamentary debate on the 2023 budget, adding that ''the number of people at risk of poverty is continuously falling in Croatia and that figure is smaller than when we assumed responsibility.''

In his answers to the deputies, Plenković pointed out that the fight against corruption continues, that it is strong and brings results.

Regarding the post-earthquake reconstruction for the earthquakes which struck Zagreb in March 2020 and the Banovina area in December of that same year, which he was also asked about, Plenkovic said that the government is providing a lot of aid and that the reconstruction of houses is intensifying, that all departments are working on reconstruction and are in charge of spending the available funds.

Austria is now all for Croatia joining Schengen, or is it?

You may have read (or heard) about Austria taking a stance against Croatia joining the Schengen zone in January 2023, with talk of the country potentially going as far as to block entry. Now it seems that the tide has turned, or has it? Memories are short when it comes to Croatian politics.

Plenkovic recently received the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Karl Nehammer, at Banski dvori. This is Nehammer's first official visit to Croatia as chancellor.

"In the last thirty years or so, relations with Austria have been among the most extensive of the numerous countries with which Croatia cooperates since it was internationally recognised. Since the 1990s, Austria has been the second biggest investor in Croatia. This year, Croatia was visited by one and a half million Austrian tourists,'' said Plenkovic at the beginning of the press conference.

"Today we also discussed the most important topic ahead of this visit, which is the final two weeks before the decision on Croatian membership of the Schengen area. This was an opportunity to once again explain to the chancellor what Croatia has done from 2016 until today," Plenkovic said.

"We're currently discussing the expansion of Schengen, and we can see that Austria in particular has insufficient protection of its external borders. At the same time, we have a reduction in border protection within the EU itself, in our opinion it can't continue like that, so some measures will have to be taken,'' he said.

"When we talk about Schengen's expansion, and at the same time we criticise the plan that the European Commission should present with regard to these problems that we've presented, it is important to say that this doesn't apply to Croatia. Special votes will be cast for Croatia, as they will for both Bulgaria and Romania. We'll support Croatia's accession to the Schengen area, but we're going to be critical of the efforts of Bulgaria and Romania," added the Austrian chancellor.

The Austrian chancellor also said that it is necessary to change the system and strengthen the EU's external borders in order to make free movement within Schengen possible.

It's worth noting that Austrian Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, caused great concern reently after he said that he was against the expansion of the Schengen area to include Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. Over the past few days, he has repeatedly said that he is against any Schengen expansion, which he said is something that simply isn't working, which can be seen from the increased number of asylum seekers arriving in Austria. That country registered the entry of around 100,000 migrants this year alone, of which 75,000 were not previously registered in any EU country at all.

Nehammer warned that his minister wanted to signal that "Schengen is clearly not working and that new measures are needed." The Council for Justice and Internal Affairs meets on December the 8th and 9th, when it will make the final decision on Croatia's entry into the Schengen area. Croatia's accession was previously supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament, so all fingers (and likely toes) are crossed.

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to follow our dedicated section and keep your eyes peeled for our Week in Croatian Politics articles which are published every Friday.

November the 8th, 2022 - Croatian hotels could soon become the practical classrooms for students from Austria's private IMC Krems as the need for high quality staff in tourism becomes more pressing.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, Croatian hotels could soon become classrooms for the practical parts of classes for students studying tourism and the wine business at the Austrian University of Applied Sciences (IMC), a leading private university with international significance that generates top-class personnel in tourism around the world.

With the growing need for top quality staff in tourism operations and management, it is also expected that the IMC university campus in the Austrian university town of Krems could attract more and more Croatian students. Even though it is a private university, thanks to significant state subsidies, tuition fees for IMC Krems are extremely affordable.

"Our University is the most international in Europe, and since its foundation back in 1994, it has been the first private university for tourism in all of Europe. We're committed to innovation and an international approach, with a special emphasis placed on the practical part of the teaching that our students must do abroad," revealed Karl Ennsfellner, president of the University's board, at a press conference.

IMC Krems was founded back in 1994 as the International Management Centre (IMC) by Dr. Heinz Boyer, who is now chairman of the university's supervisory board and majority owner, while the Austrian city of Krems itself holds a 30 percent stake.

Eight years after its establishment, they received the status of a higher education institution, and since then the university has grown rapidly. IMC Krems currently offers seventeen bachelor's and ten master's programmes, as well as three continued education courses, and about 40 percent of the programmes are taught in English. Programmes in three core areas - business, science and technology, and health - are all offered to full-time students, as well as those who choose to study while working.

Their programmes are closely related to the university's core focuses on business, digitalisation and engineering, health and life sciences, and they generate the most income from biotechnology studies, in which they closely cooperate with leading pharmaceutical companies. IMC Krems has more than 160 partner universities and they have attracted students from 50 different countries.

The practical part of the 22-week course takes place in hotels abroad all over the world, and currently students are very interested in South America," says Bauer-Krösbacher. In addition, classes take place at partner universities in Egypt, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, China, Latvia and Vietnam, and Croatian hotels may well be the next practical classroom for students.

For more, make sure to keep up with our dedicated news section.

April the 6th, 2022 - The Republic of Croatia is still the leading, most sought after holiday destination this summer for the Austrian market, with Austrian tourists ready to bask in the Adriatic sun and swim in the sparkling sea.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, ahead of the main summer part of this year's tourist season, Austrian travel organisers conducted market analyses according to which Croatia is at the very top of the most sought-after foreign destinations for the Austrian market, reports local portal Glas Istre/The Voice of Istria.

Namely, travel organiser Gruber Reisen conducted a survey among its clients and customers, which totalled 1,200 respondents, entitled ''Travel Barometer in 2022'', according to which Croatia is the leading and most sought-after destination for the Austrian market, which shouldn't come as much of a shock to anyone.

"Austria is one of the most important emitting markets for Croatian tourism, and this country is supported by data from a survey according to which as many as 95 percent of Austrians said they want to spend their summer holidays somewhere else in Europe," said Branimir Toncinic, the director of the CNTB Office in Austria, adding that security and safety when in the destination remains an important aspect for the majority of people when booking a trip. Two thirds of Austrians plan to spend 1,500 euros per person.

The results of the survey also show that the will and desire of Austrians to travel is great given that 53 percent of respondents have already booked a trip this year. At the same time, about 65 percent of the respondents said that they'd prefer a beach holiday, ie the sun and the sea are a main a motive for coming, while visits to cities are becoming more interesting to many on the Austrian market and are in second place.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

7 March 2022 - Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) analysts on Monday revised down their estimate of Croatia's economic growth in 2022 from 4.4% to 4%, underscoring uncertainty and negative risks, particularly regarding investments.

The analysts said that in light of the war in Ukraine and growing uncertainty, their forecast for the euro area economy has been marked down by 0.7 percentage points to 3.3%.

"The expected trends will have a negative, albeit a limited impact on Croatia's GDP. In the scenario that excludes the possibility of the war spreading to other countries of the EU and/or Western Balkans and implies, at least for the time being, that the tourism season will be successful, the forecast for the real annual GDP growth rate for 2002 has been revised from 4.4% to 4%," the analysts said.

The analysts however remain cautious, underscoring uncertainty and negative risks, particularly with regard to investments.

Inflation in 2022 at 4.9%

They also see a more significant risk in the spilling over of the global increase in energy and food prices, and have therefore revised up their inflation forecast.

RBA estimates that this year's inflation rate in Croatia will be 4.9% whereas previously it was forecast at 3.6%.

Data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) indicated an increase in inflation of 5.7% in January this year compared to January 2021, which is the highest increase since October 2008.

"We expect that this year will see stronger inflationary pressure, directly on food prices, and that the impact of price growth on producers will also affect consumers, which will negatively impact available income. In such circumstances we cannot rule out the possibility of additional fiscal support," the analysts said.

November the 25th, 2021 - The largest Croatian tourist company, Valamar, has its eye on the purchase of another hotel in a very popular Austrian ski resort.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the Supervisory Board of Valamar Riviera, the largest Croatian tourist company, has approved the recapitalisation of the Austrian subsidiary Valamar A GmbH with the aim of acquiring the Marietta 4 * hotel in Obertauern, which will thus become the second hotel in Austria managed by Valamar.

Over the next two years, further investments are planned in Austria, which include investments in raising the quality of the Marietta Hotel and the Valamar Obertauern Hotel, the company reports.

“Hotel Marietta 4 * with 120 keys is today one of the largest and best hotels in the famous Obertauern ski resort. It provides its guests with a fantastic location on the ski slope near all of the facilities in the destination. With the completion of this transaction, Valamar will operate two hotels in Austria, which will employ more than 130 Valamar employees from the Republic of Croatia during the winter.

For Valamar, this acquisition represents an important step forward in the further internationalisation of our business portfolio with the aim of expanding it and managing hotel and tourist facilities in the best winter holiday destinations across Austria and Italy. The recapitalisation of the Austrian subsidiary of Valamar A GmbH by Gustav Wurmboeck, one of Austria's largest shareholders in Valamar Riviera, aims to accelerate the further expansion of the Valamar Group's portfolio, with the acquisition of the Marietta Hotel being another significant step in that same direction,'' they stated from the very well known company.

Zeljko Kukurin, President of the Management Board of Valamar Riviera, pointed out that the further expansion of the largest Croatian tourist company's portfolio in the direction of winter holiday tourism is an important step forward in the internationalisation of business and the use of Valamar's management synergies.

"Experience so far has shown us that guests who come to us in the summer want to spend their holidays in Valamar's facilities during the winter. In addition, by expanding to winter tourism, we're providing our employees with year-round permanent employment, increased income and the opportunity to gain international experience and develop their careers in the long term here with Valamar,'' concluded Kukurin.

For more, check out our dedicated business section.

September the 23rd, 2021 - Knin has faced economic issues for a long time now, with many people leaving for either Zagreb, seasonal work on the coast or heading abroad. The Austrian company PicoPack could be set to turn things around for this inland Dalmatian town as it sets up local production.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, an new opportunity is opening up Knin, known for its role during the Homeland War, to do better economically and become a European brand for polypropylene jumbo bags. These bags are applied in a wide variety of sectors, including the agriculture, petrochemical and food processing industries. These are highly sought-after products that are otherwise imported into Croatia, but with this move, the Croatian packaging industry will soon get its first representative in the segment of the production of industrial packaging for bulk products.

The Austrian company PicoPack had the best conditions offered to them in Knin

The Austrian company PicoPack Group, a manufacturer and distributor of industrial packaging, is finalising an agreement regarding its new project, which they have decided to implement right here in Croatia. In order to supply their numerous customers from Europe and the Russian Federation and to invest in production capacity of about 18,000 square metres, the investor chose Knin. The inland Dalmatian town was chosen above all other options.

The holder of the project is the newly established company Velebit ambalaza, in which the Austrian company PicoPack will hold a 51 percent share and the entrepreneur Goran Jerkovic will hold one of 49 percent. Austrian entrepreneur and leader of PicoPack, Manfred Pribyl, confirmed that good offers from other countries, such as Bulgaria, were also considered for the project, but the best conditions and in that sense support for the project, after Jerkovic's engagement, were received from Knin. The new Knin factory could be one of the largest in all of Europe, Pribyl says, adding that the company is expanding its production globally under the influence of the coronavirus pandemic, in response to increased transport costs and longer delivery times.

Production in India, organised sixteen years ago, is now being redirected solely to the African, Australian and American markets, but the model of how they work will be replicated at the Croatian Knin factory. In addition to the workers at the plant, they will additionally have a larger number of them in education within their small educational institution, so they will always have enough workers. Pribyl stated that he will motivate them with net salaries of up to 1,000 euros, but also with the distribution of about 20 percent of profits to workers every six months, which is an unprecedented positive example in recent entrepreneurial practice.

Since back in 2007, nine entrepreneurs have been operating in the Preparandija zone, but Knin is completing the reconstruction of two significant facilities, one of which is the former Kninjanka facility. According to the head of the Knin Administrative Department for EU Programmes and Economy, Josko Nedoklan, the project is worth around 33.34 million kuna, is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, and the works on the facility should be completed by April 2022.

For more, check our our dedicated business section.

August the 24th, 2021 - The PlanRadar platform is one step closer to solving the issue of endless amounts of paper and pens on Croatian construction sites, bringing it all onto a screen and as such, into one place.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Bojan Petkovic, the director of PlanRadar for Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia stated that ''we're one step closer to abandoning large and inconspicuous paper reports and the complete digitalisation of work on construction sites, especially in the area of ​​data exchange and processing.''

That's how Petkovic described the new opportunity that this Croatian-Austrian startup offers to the users of its software platform, with Croatian construction sites hopefully abandoning endless amounts of paperwork.

As they announced, PlanRadar has introduced a new, extremely important feature in its solution - Digital Project Reports, which further facilitates the collection of data from construction sites and enables them to use data even more efficiently within the application itself.

As explained from this company, which currently has more than 13,000 users across more than 55 countries, thanks to Digital Project Reports, users and subcontractors can now import PDF reports into the PlanRadar platform and easily collect data from various construction sites by using existing forms and importing data. These reports can be searched or new reports can be created based on them.

“Our users use many different, pre-defined reports to respond to the reporting needs of the relevant institutions or their partners and investors, such as a construction log. In order to further facilitate and speed up the process of collecting information and reporting, we decided to go one step further and after creating digital report forms that are available with just one click within the PlanRadar application, enable the import of data from existing PDF forms through project reports,'' explained Petkovic.

It's worth mentioning that the PlanRadar platform has pointed out that by digitalising these work processes in construction, they're working to further reduce the frequency of errors, save time and enable a significant increase in efficiency. This will likely be of enormous benefit to Croatian construction sites, especially as the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb, Petrinja, Sisak, Glina and elsewhere gets underway.

For more, follow our business section.

August the 22nd, 2021 - Kastela, as well as the wider Split area, will be richer for another shopping centre from April next year thanks to the ''Stop shop'' retail chain, a brand of the Austrian company Immofinanz, the first such Dalmatian shopping centre, which already present in the northern part of Croatia in both Osijek and Valpovo.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, investors confirmed to Slobodna Dalmacija that the new Dalmatian shopping centre project is currently in the early phase of obtaining a building permit, and on August the 12th this year, they reported the beginning of the removal of dilapidated buildings at the location in Kastel Sucurac.

Immofinanz purchased the land covering a total area of ​​16,099 square metres (located on the site of the former Adriachem) last year from a company called Kemokompleks, backed by entrepreneur Enver Moralic.

The plot was neglected because in the meantime the remains of the former Jugovinil warehouses, which burned back in 2003 in a fire, still hadn't been removed. In the immediate vicinity there are three existing retail facilities - Lidl, Plodine and Super Konzum (the former Getro).

The procedure for obtaining a permit for the new Dalmatian shopping centre is, as stated, currently underway, as was confirmed to Slobodna Dalmacija from the Kastela City Administration. When looking at the system of the Ministry of Construction, it is evident that the permit was stamped back on July the 29th, but it isn't yet enforceable and final.

The ''Stop shop'' in Kastela is just one of the new retail parks that will be opened in the Republic of Croatia, says Josko Pitesa, the director of the Zagreb-based company Immofinanz services and management, whose founder is the aforementioned Austrian company, who announced that construction will begin after obtaining the needed permit.

The new Dalmatian shopping centre will cover about 7,500 square metres in total, and the opening is planned for April 2022.

What makes ''Stop shop'', which already has centres in Osijek and Valpovo, different from other shopping centres is the lack of common spaces in a large building from which one enters individual stores, which avoids the costs of joint maintenance. It is designed in such a way that each store is entered directly from the car park. Among the tenants of the centers in Osijek and Valpovo are DM, Deichmann, CCC, Spar, Intersport, Takko and KiK.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

August 20, 2021 - The Iron Age Danube Route is a new addition to the Croatian offer, relevant not just for tourism but for science, research, and education, and recognised by the European Council.

The Iron Age Danube Route addresses one of the most fragile, though imposing and attractive prehistoric archaeological phenomena, the Iron Age landscapes. Characterised by monumental structures, such as burial mound cemeteries, flat cemeteries, fortified hilltop settlements, and oppida, as well as elements indicating the complex organisation of space, Iron Age landscapes belong to the period between the 9th and the end of the 1st century BC, according to the official website of the Iron Age Danube Route Association (IADR).

This association was founded back in July 2020 with the goal of enhancing international scientific cooperation regarding the period of the Iron Age, as this is a period marked by an extraordinary corpus of movable and intangible heritage. The focus on the Danube region is, among other things, owing to this heritage being housed in numerous museums across the Danube region, including the most important regional and national institutions.

''Compiling the existing sources of knowledge and creating a strong interdisciplinary and international network of expert institutions from Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia in the fields of archaeology, cultural heritage protection, tourism, as well as local stakeholders, the Iron Age Danube Route Association was founded in July 2020 with the aim of the further development and management of the IADR,''

The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb is one of the founding partners of the association, and other institutions from Croatia include the Centre for Prehistoric Research, Kaptol County, Papuk Nature Park, and Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb. Other partners include museums and faculties from Hungary, Austria, and Slovenia, all bringing their top experts in the field to the table for the association to work.

And that work paid off. As reported by the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb's website, the European Council granted the culture route certificate to the Iron Age Danube Route which stretches through Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, and Slovenia.

''This is the first culture route of The European Council with its headquarters in Croatia“, said the Museum's website adding that the route is managed by the Association.

''The Iron Age Danube Route matched the criteria by the five priority fields of action by the European Council. These include cooperation in research and development, the progression of European heritage and history, educational exchanges, youth culture, engagement within the frame of the current cultural and artistic practices and sustainable cultural tourism development,'' explained the website.

The certificate is important as it enhances the overall visibility of the sight, allowing the public to become better informed about the area, and enriching the overall Croatian cultural and tourist offer, creating new opportunities both for business and for scientific and educational purposes.

Did you know Vukovar is located along the Danube river? Learn more in our TC guide.

For more about Croatian history, follow TCN's dedicated page.