November 10, 2021 - As part of the project Great Croatians of Zagorje, the first talking bench has been installed in Veliko Trgovišće, where locals and tourists can learn more about the history of the birthplace of the first Croatian president.

Only thirty kilometers away from our dear Zagreb in Veliko Trgovišće, better known as the birthplace of the first Croatian president, the first in a row was set up: a bench that talks as part of the project Croatian Greats of Zagorje, writes Jelena Holenko for Turističke Priče.

Photo: Jelena Holenko/Turističke Priče

The Tourist Board of the Tuhelj, Klanjec, and Trgovišće areas has launched an initiative to mark sites related to Croatian greats from this area that have left great significance in Croatian history. These are the initiator of the Peasant Revolt back in 1573, Ambroz Broz, better known as Matija Gubec, Antun Mihanović - creator of the Croatian anthem Lijepa naša who spent the last years of his life in Klanjec, the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman, sculptor Antun Augustinčić, Josip Broz Tito, Veronika Desinička and others.

In honor of the first Croatian president, a rest area with a tourist map and an interactive talking bench has been arranged in the immediate vicinity of his birthplace. The first talking bench is of an educational character and by pressing a button, you can choose and listen to the story of Veliko Trgovišće and its history, or the story of Croatian greats and Dr. Franjo Tuđman who grew up in this place "among the green hills of Zagorje".

Bust of President Dr. Franjo Tuđman erected in his hometown of Veliko Trgovišće. (Photo: Marin Tironi/PIXSELL)

Other such interactive benches will be set up next to the Dr. Franjo Tuđman Memorial School also in Veliko Trgovišće, in Tuheljske Toplice, in Dubrovnik… and maybe the story of Zagorje and the greats of this region inspires you to get to know the Zagorje region and the benefits it provides!

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ZAGREB, 16 June, 2021 - A delegation of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) on Wednesday laid wreaths on the grave of HDZ founder and first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman to mark the party's 32nd anniversary, with the party leader, PM Andrej Plenković, saying the HDZ was the strongest political party in Croatia even today.

At the start of day-long events commemorating the party's 32nd anniversary, HDZ officials, led by Plenković, paid their respects at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery to Franjo Tuđman, whom Plenković described as "a statesman, a visionary, the man who led Croatia to freedom, independence, with the plebiscite support of the Croatian people, and with the courage and bravery of Croatian defenders."

"Even today, 32 years later, the HDZ is the strongest political force in the Republic of Croatia, in Croatia in which we have achieved all basic national goals - freedom, democracy and the protection of human and minority rights, and have built institutions. Now in the fourth decade of our independence, the goal is the economy, demographic revitalisation, social inclusion, following key global processes and the fourth industrial revolution, but also the green transformation and the digital transformation," Plenković said in a statement to reporters.

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