ZAGREB, 7 April 2022 - The central commemoration of victims of the Bleiburg tragedy and what in Croatia is known as the Way of the Cross marches, held under the auspices of the Croatian parliament, will be held on 13 and 14 May at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery and in Udbina, a town in Lika-Senj County.

Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković held a working meeting on the commemoration with representatives of the Croatian Bishops' Conference and the Honorary Bleiburg Platoon.

As part of this year's commemorative events, a mass will be served at the parish church in Bleiburg, Austria, and Croatia's Ambassador to Austria will lay a wreath there.

The central commemoration, including the laying of wreaths and a prayer, will take place at Zagreb's central cemetery, after which a mass will be celebrated at the Shrine of Croatian Martyrs in Udbina, some 140 kilometres south of Zagreb.

Participants in today's meeting underlined the importance of commemorating the victims in a dignified way to preserve the historical truth about the tragedy.

The event commemorates soldiers of the Nazi-allied Croatian Ustasha regime and civilians killed at the Loibach Field near Bleiburg, Austria in the aftermath of WWII, after they fled the areas taken over by Tito-led Partisans.

For more, check out our politics section.

November the 4th, 2021 - Funerals can be just as expensive as any other form of gathering, and without sounding utterly morbid - if you want to die with a bit of luxury and an empty pocket, then reserving a Mirogoj grave site might be up your alley.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, across the Republic of Croatia, grave site prices range from a few thousand to an incredible half a million kuna.

An eye-poppingly expensive ad was published recently on the popular Njuskalo buying and selling website, which acts a bit like the original Croatian eBay. For ''just'' 479,000 kuna (which is equal to about 64,400 euros), a Mirogoj grave site is being offered at the main entrance to Zagreb's famous and stunning cemetery. To speak more precisely about the location, it's "the first field next to the tomb of Dr. Franjo Tudjman", the first President of Croatia.

This Mirogoj grave site is suitable for ''housing'' six coffins, or so the owner claims. For this sort of money, it is quite clear that not only would you be able to live (nevermind die) extremely comfortably for a very long time in Croatia, it's also possible to buy an apartment, a house or a luxury car, as Mirovina.hr rightly states.

In addition to this most expensive Mirogoj grave site and others also located there, "luxury" graves are also being offered in Dubrovnik, Rijeka and Zadar… The prices of graves are the lowest in certain cemeteries and of course in smaller areas, which doesn't mean that the overall costs are small, because the grave is just the beginning of the expensive process known as death, which none of us are getting out of.

After the purchase of the plot itself, it is then necessary to pay for its arrangement, which includes the construction of the tomb and site itself, ie the concrete frame and the tombstone. All of this can cost you at least 10 to 20 thousand kuna on top of the initial price, with funeral costs that typically reach more than 5,000 kuna.

For a grave site in Zagreb, it is necessary to set aside anywhere from 2,500 kuna at Markovo polje to 24,000 kuna at Mirogoj. The price of the tombstone is usually at least 5,000 kuna and the annual fee stands at around 600 to 900 kuna per year.

Unlike a ''fancy'' Mirogoj grave site, a grave site in Rijeka costs just 4,000 kuna on average, but costs of up to 40,000 kuna aren't uncommon when the entire procedure is taking into account. Other costs such as coffins and funerals are the same as in Zagreb, and the annual fee is slightly lower, typically never exceeding the 400 kuna mark.

In the Eastern city of Osijek, a grave site can be found for as little as 1,875 kuna, and a decorated one for as little as 8,000 kuna, but this still can go up to 100,000. It costs at least 5,000 kuna for a tombstone, and the best option comes with a price tag of around 13,000 kuna. It costs at least 1,500 kuna for the coffin, not counting the funeral price.

For more, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 4 Aug, 2021 - On the eve of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, War Veterans Day and the central commemoration in Knin, state delegations laid wreaths at Zagreb's central Mirogoj cemetery on Wednesday.

The government delegation was led by Veterans' Minister Tomo Medved and a delegation of the Croatian Parliament was led by Deputy Speaker Željko Reiner.

The delegations laid wreaths at the Wall of Pain monument, the Central Cross in the Alley of Fallen Croatian Homeland War Defenders, the grave of Croatia's first president Franjo Tudjman, and at the common grave of unidentified victims of the 1991-95 war.

Wreaths were also laid by a delegation of President Zoran Milanović, led by his advisor on defence and national security Dragan Lozančić, as well as a delegation of the City of Zagreb, led by deputy mayor Luka Korlaet.

Shortly after that, a delegation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by member of the SDP presidency and MEP Predrag Fred Matic, laid flowers and lit candles at the Wall of Pain monument and the Central Cross in the Alley of Fallen Croatian Homeland War Defenders.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery complex is one of the seven European most endangered monument localities in 2021, Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said at a news conference on Thursday.

The Culture and Media Ministry, in cooperation with the City of Zagreb, the City Institute for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage and the Zagreb Holding multi-utility conglomerate nominated the cemetery for the European Seven Most Endangered Programme, taking into account its specificity and value as the most important multiconfessional cemetery in Croatia and an exceptionally valuable cemetery at the European level, as well as the huge damage caused to it by the March 2020 earthquake, the minister said.

She recalled that the programme, implemented since 2013 by Europa Nostra in cooperation with the European Investment Bank Institute, each year puts emphasis on seven European localities.

That way experts and funds are mobilised so that together we can renovate the European cultural heritage, said Obuljen Koržinek.

She noted that a number of European experts, notably earthquake reconstruction experts, had offered various forms of help over the past year and that they would all be involved, notably in complex reconstruction projects.

"The preliminary work on the Mirogoj complex alone, to be financed from the European Solidarity Fund, has been estimated at HRK 97 million," she said, adding that this includes emergency repairs acceptable for financing under the European Solidarity Fund.

Those funds have been approved, documents are being collected and work will start relatively soon, she said, noting that it was clear to everyone that the renovation of Mirogoj would be a long-standing project requiring great professional engagement considering that the cemetery had not been renovated since its construction.

She said that at today's Europa Nostra presentation it was said that everyone would mobilise to help Croatia collect the necessary funding.

The other six most endangered monuments and localities of cultural heritage in Europe in 2021 are the Achensee Cog Railway (Tyrol, Austria), Five Southern Aegean Islands (Greece), Giusti Garden in Verona (Italy), Dečani Monastery (Kosovo), the Central Post Office in Skopje (North Macedonia) and the San Juan de Socueva Chapel and Hermitage (Cantabria, Spain).

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 4 March, 2021 - Member of Parliament Arsen Bauk of the Social Democratic Party protested on Thursday in the parliament against the "flagrant and rude" violation of epidemiological measures at the funeral of the late Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, which was attended by an estimate of one thousand people.

Bauk entered parliament without a mask, which is not permitted and which was remarked on by Deputy Speaker Ante Sanader (HDZ).

SDP's MP explained why he took his mask off.

"I violated Article 293b of the Rules of Procedure because I took off my mask. I did so in protest at the flagrant and rude violation of measures at Mirogoj on Wednesday, sponsored by the national and local COVID-19 crisis management teams," Bauk said.

He asked Sanader to issue him with a warning so that "at least someone would be penalised" for yesterday's violation of epidemiological measures.

"I won't issue you with a warning for yesterday, but I will for what you did today, you violated the Rules of Procedures," Sanader responded.