April 22, 2020 - The Zagreb earthquakes of March 22, 2020 rocked a city already battling COVID-19. One of the many victims was arguably its most famous building, Zagreb Cathedral. Some thoughts from Marijana Rebic. 

30 days after the earthquakes in Zagreb and surrounding areas

Zagreb’s cathedral was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1880, Zagreb’s cathedral will rebuilt after the earthquakes in 2020.

One month ago today, after 6 am local time on a Sunday, Zagreb, the Croatian capital city and its surroundings was struck by its biggest earthquake in 140 years ( the largest since 1880), causing widespread damage, including to the city’s cathedral, and the evacuation of hospitals. A 15-year-old child died, and 26 others were injured as a result of the quake.

The city was fighting two enemies, two parallel crises that contradicted each other, All of us remember the mothers dressed in nightgowns hugging their newborn babies in a car park in freezing temperatures after a damaged maternity hospital was evacuated. The women and children were moved along with incubators to a new location with the help of the army, health workers, volunteers, and football fan clubs.

Many cultural institutions and private buildings cracked, and walls and rooftops including educational facilities, museums sustained significant damage, and the famed Zagreb Cathedral - the city’s most famous landmark site – with the top of one of its two spires collapsing.

Zagreb Cathedral’s two 350-foot-tall spires make it the tallest building in the city. On that Sunday, however, the top of the southern tower came crashing down, striking the Archbishop’s Palace on its way. The base of the Roman Catholic cathedral dates back to the 11th century, when the Diocese of Zagreb was established. Construction probably began around 1100 and was completed by the year 1217. In 1242, the Mongols invaded the city and heavily damaged the cathedral, which later underwent a major reconstruction. During the 16th century, the city fortified the cathedral with walls and towers; by the 17th century, its square renaissance bell tower was complete. After a major earthquake struck in 1880, the cathedral was completely rebuilt. The Zagreb Cathedral (Croatia) rebuilding in the Neo-Gothic style was led by Hermann Bollé. Workers finished reconstructing the Neo-Gothic structure, including its iconic pair of gold-topped spires, in 1906.

After 140 years, another earthquake damaged its iconic pair of spires on 22nd of March 2020. The architect, Hermann Bollé, whose 94th anniversary of his death is marked on April 17th, precisely the day when one of his spires was carefully taken down for repairs,

A part of the north spire of Zagreb's historic cathedral, 13.5 metres tall and weighing some 30 tonnes, was removed as a result of structural engineers' decision. The top of the damaged northern spire was removed to prevent it from collapsing and causing damage to the cathedral and the area around it. After the tower was separated, a massive crane lowered it to the ground. The part was removed following a controlled explosion at around 6 pm. After repairs, the tip of the spire will be returned to the northern tower.

Thanks to multifaceted Croatian Army Climbers, Croatian Army Engineering Unit, led by Lieutenant Colonel Miroslav Car, Military Intelligence, led by the Commander-Major Mario Maslov, supported by a group of cathedral restoration experts led by Mons. Ivan Hren who participated in this historic endeavour,

It was a special historic and emotional day of all of us. For the memory.

Photos: Alan Grubelic, Cathedral Archive, Josip Ninković, Sanjin Strukić, Croatian television Archive, Public Photos Service.

Thanks, Marijana, stay safe and see you in Zagreb soon. 

For more on the Zagreb earthquake and aftermath, check out the dedicated TCN section.

April 22, 2020 - The final chapter of Za Krizen 2020, as the Varbonj za Zagreb earthquake appeal reaches 100,000 kuna. A message from cross-bearer Matteo Bratanic.

As previously reported on TCN, the UNESCO-listed Za Krizen religious procession on Maundy Thursday was one of the few events to be allowed to take place in this corona era, albeit in strictly controlled circumstances (you can see the detailed TCN eye-witness account of the 9-hour procession). 

Matteo Bratanic, the Vrbanj cross-bearer, his family and the people of the village of Vrbanj decided to donate all the proceeds from Za Krizen 2020, including a monetary value on all gifts received, to victims of the devastating earthquakes in Zagreb last month. As I wrote last week, Matteo's father Toni, explained a little more about the Varbonj za Zagreb campaign (Varbonj is a dialect word for Vrbanj), as well as inviting people to contribute until last Sunday. 

ZAGREB, April 20, 2020 - Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica and the Director General of Huwaei Croatia, Zhang Heng, on Monday visited Zagreb families who were left without their homes in the March 22 earthquake and are living in a student dormitory in Zagreb, donating to them Huawei tablets worth HRK 250,000.

The Chinese technology company donated 170 MediaPad T5 10 tablets to families affected by the earthquake.

Minister Malenica spoke with citizens about their everyday routine in the temporary accommodation, recalling the possibility of using digital services, which would help them in coping with their current situation, the ministry said in a press release.

"It is in situations like this that digitisation is the key and all its advantages come to the fore - even though we are distanced, we are connected," said Malenica.

We wanted to relieve the everyday routine for fellow citizens affected by the earthquake who were compelled to vacate their homes. We hope that these tablets will help the youngest keep up with online lessons and provide older users with access to timely information as well as facilitate contact with family members and serve as a way to occupy one's free time, Zhang Heng said.

More IT news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, April 20, 2020 - The initiative Zagreb Is Calling You and the NGOs Green Action and the Right to the City are organising a new, third, balcony protest against the Zagreb mayor to take place on Friday, April 24 under the slogan "Bandić, give the money back".

The organisers are calling on citizens to bang their pots in order to show their dissatisfaction with the mayor's "wasteful use of city money on murky and unnecessary, often overpaid projects".

Each day, the chaos surrounding the repair of the damage caused by the earthquake becomes more evident, as well as the fact that these incompetent authorities were not able to systematically take even the most basic steps to repair the damage in a month's time, they said.

All this is happening in a city where the mayor manages about HRK 12 billion (€1.6bn) a year, while parts of the city still lack basic utilities, and many streets are littered with rubbish, the activists said in their call for protest.

The first demonstration against the mayor took place on April 3 and the second on April 17.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

April 19, 2020 - How to respond to corona on the outside, earthquakes on the inside and economic collapse all around if you are in the tourism business? Respect to the Zagreb Tourist Board and their new online campaign.

This is a period of our lives that none of us will ever forget. A period with such seismic change and total shock for all of us, where we are coming to terms that things will never be quite the same. In terms of shocks and the embedded memory, it is up there with 9/11, the 2008 crash and (for some reason, even though I have no interest in the Royal Family) the death of Lady Diana. 

And in this time of crisis - whether that crisis be health, economic, mental or social unrest, a combination of these four things or perhaps all rolled into one - there is arguably not a person on the planet who has not been affected by the corona crisis. And with so many stories of personal misery and suffering, it is totally understandable that people do not have the time or capacity to take on the pain and suffering of others. 

But if you do have the time and the capacity to hear about what others are going through, I want to tell you about an incredible city with a big heart, which has suffered much more than most, and whose resilience and determination to survive and prosper is beyond admirable. 

The city is Zagreb, the City of One Million Hearts. 

And the online response of the Zagreb Tourist Board and the Croatian National Tourist Board has been magnificent.

With the corona crisis at its height, the Croatian capital was rocked by a series of earthquakes on March 22, as reported by TCN. Those harrowing pictures of the poor mothers and their newborns went all over the world.

TCN has covered the earthquake and its aftermath extensively, and you can see the entire coverage here, but for this article I want to focus on the response of both the national and Zagreb tourist board in its online handling of the tragedy. Because it was magnificent. 

The same day as the earthquake, the national tourist board posted this very moving video, above, with the following message:

"This is my city, my streets, my love. My city with a million hearts... I hope we will smile again, drink coffee with friends and, soon, welcome new friends from around the world who will fall in love with Zagreb, just like I did."

A similar message can be seen on the homepage of the Zagreb Tourist Board.

And then this, the very symbol of the Zagreb skyline, shared by the Croatian National Tourist Board, the removal of the top of the damaged cathedral spires.

Symbols of the Zagreb skyline, the Zagreb Cathedral...
Even without both spires, still, beautiful and strong...
Video by RTL.hr
Thank you RTL.hr
#ZagrebStayStrong #Zagreb #CroatiaFullOfMemories #Croazia #Croatia

Heartbreaking, heartwarming, emotions all over the place. But once one looks at things from a more detached view, how is the Zagreb Tourist Board responding, and how to promote tourism in an age when nobody is travelling?

The Zagreb Tourist Board Facebook page became a focal point for the pictures of its residents. Some excellent pictures, such as this one from Bojan Rakic. Check out the Zagreb Tourist Board Facebook page for more.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article called Tourism in the Corona Age: 10 Virtual Ways to Discover Zagreb. The article looks at the online resources available to explore Zagreb virtually for a future visit, a strategy which the Zagreb Tourist Board has been quietly rolling out in recent weeks, using hashtags #DreamNowTravelLater and #ZagrebLovesYou. 

It includes great campaigns such as 'From Zagreb Balconies' where citizens have been sending their balcony views of the Croatian capital - a delightful cross-section of shots of the city, which you can explore here.

The Zagreb Tourist Board has also created a wonderful virtual section on its website called What to Do at Home.

This section is an excellent collection of ways to enjoy Zagreb virtually, from museum tours to theatre productions. You can check it out here.

One of the best resources for understanding the complete situation in this beautiful city under attack from corona and earthquakes is the Love Zagreb blog, another Zagreb Tourist Board project online, which brings the heartbeat of the city into your living room. There were some fabulous texts written in recent weeks. If I could pick out a few to check out, they would be:

Zagreb - A City With a Spirit of Steel

In The Times of Hardship, We Stick Together

You Can Still Have Fun While Staying Indoors

Zagreb's Virtual Farmers' Market

What people perhaps are not aware of is what is happening behind the scenes. I have had several messages from Zagreb tour guides saying that the tourist board had been in contact to discuss how best to promote the city and their agency with whatever online tools the agency had. 

Here is one such resource, which our TCN interns filmed quite independently recently, a video guide to the unique Secret Zagreb Badass Women of Zagreb Tour. 

And how about THIS? At 16:00 Croatian time today, there will be a live and free walking tour of Zagreb in English. You can follow it live on Facebook. 

Zagreb, the City of a Million Hearts, stay strong in this incredibly trying time. 

I, and many other foreigners, look forward to seeing you soon in the flesh. 

You can learn more about the virtual and non-virtual offer of the Zagreb Tourist Board on the official website. 

ZAGREB, April 18, 2020 - Following a call made by Zagreb City Assembly opposition councillor, Tomislav Tomašević and a few NGOs, residents in Zagreb's various neighbourhoods took to banging on pots and kitchen utensils from their balconies on Friday to show their dissatisfaction with Mayor Milan Bandić.

Earlier on Friday, Tomašević, who is the whip of the left group in the Zagreb City Assembly, called on residents to join "a cacerolazo " at 7 p.m. Friday and that by making noise by banging pots, pans, and other utensils, they could tell Mayor Bandić "enough".

"We can't protest in (Ban Jelačić) square because of the corona measures, but we can make noise on our balconies and windows, regardless of what Bandić and the police think about that 'disturbing of the peace'. Let them fine half the city if they can. Bandić pretends he didn't hear the banging last time, but tonight it will be louder. Let Bandić's people and 'business partners' and HDZ members who may live on your street realise that this way of running Zagreb is through, Tomašević said in a press release before the pots and pans demonstration in the evening.

The call for the protest was made by the NGOs The Right to the City, Green Action and Zagreb Is Calling You. They urge dissatisfied citizens to go to their windows and balconies, just as they did on 3 April when they also banged at their pots and pans and blew whistles in protest at how Bandić was running the city in the present situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic and the March 22 earthquake.

A Green Action activist, Bernard Ivčić, told Hina on Friday evening, that residents once again showed that they were fed up with the way how the city was run.

In his comment to the latest protest, Tomašević told Hina that this evening's pots and pans demonstration was louder than the previous one.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

April 17, 2020 - The north spire of the Zagreb Cathedral was destroyed by dynamite on Friday afternoon.

While it was the south spire of Zagreb Cathedral to suffer damage from the earthquake in the capital last month, the north spire was destroyed as well for safety reasons on Friday.

Namely, after a series of drone inspections and surveys, statists unanimously decided that part of Zagreb Cathedral's north spire must be removed as it threatens to collapse on the side of the cathedral, Jutarnji List reported at the beginning of the month. 

Immediately after the earthquake, the north spire had been badly damaged and was inspected by experts who had examined the cathedral. At that moment, however, no one wanted to confirm that it would need to be removed.

Statics that climbed to the point of the damage noted that there was a displacement of about five inches.

"The north spire will be removed to the point that the top of the south tower has collapsed," said Ivan Hren, who has led the renovation of the cathedral for a long time. The top of the cathedral weighs 30 tons and is 13.5 meters long.

The controlled explosion was supposed to take place on Wednesday and Thursday, but was delayed both times due to inclement weather.

Preparations for the explosion have been ongoing and the began once the experienced demolition team was met with favorable weather conditions.

Recall, the day after the Croatian capital was effectively shut down, residents of Zagreb were rocked by a 5.3 magnitude earthquake at 06:24 on March 22, 2020, whose epicenter was 7 km north of the city. A second earthquake hit just 30 minutes later, 9km north of Zagreb, with a magnitude 5.0.

The Zagreb earthquake aftermath saw roads of rubble and many damaged buildings, one of which was the famous Zagreb Cathedral.

The stone top of the south spire collapsed in the quake and the fracture occurred at the height of the lantern at 92 meters.

The stone fell partly on the scaffolding, which had just been adapted to the works completed in the third stages of rebuilding the south spire, and in doing so damaged part of the third gallery completed just before Christmas. 

To read more about news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 17, 2020 - After the news that Emirates would delay its Zagreb-Dubai service from May to July, Korean Air and Air Canada Rouge announced changes in their services to the Croatian capital.

Namely, Ex Yu Aviation reports that while Korean Air originally planned to resume operations in June, the non-stop service between Seoul and Zagreb is now delayed until September due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bookings are closed until September 1.

Ex Yu Aviation adds that Korean Air will resume the service with three flights per week, with departures from Seoul on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

The route will operate with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with capacity for 269 passengers, and could potentially work into the winter months. 

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Korean Air will put 70% of its 19,000 staff members on temporary leave from April 16 until the middle of October. Furthermore, 390 foreign pilots are on three months of unpaid leave from April 1. The airline has also suspended more than 90% of its flights on international routes and currently only maintains services Paris and London.

Korean Air will, however, offer alternatives to Zagreb via other European destinations until September. 

“We will see what happens with this entire situation. We sincerely hope that all of this will be over as soon as possible and for us to be able to resume normal operations to some extent in April,” Zagreb Airport said at the beginning of April. The airport is currently only handling flights from Croatia Airlines and Eurowings and is the only airport with commercial flights in Croatia and the wider region at the moment. 

Furthermore, Ex Yu Aviation reports that while operations were to resume on June 4 this year, Air Canada Rouge will not run between Toronto and Zagreb this summer, with services expected to resume in 2021. Its other seasonal summer flights in the region have also been canceled.

“Passengers will still be able to reach Zagreb from Toronto with Air Canada thanks to its wide-ranging codeshare partnership with Croatia Airlines, once both carriers resume the majority of their operations. Air Canada codeshares on its counterparts’ flights from Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, London Heathrow, Paris and Zurich to the Croatian capital. At this point, the Canadian carrier plans to resume services to these European destinations in June and July. Air Canada is not offering refunds for cancelled flights but is instead providing credits which can be used for another flight within the next 24 months. The Canadian Transportation Agency says airlines are not obliged to pay back passengers for trips suspended due to the coronavirus and “should not be expected to take steps that could threaten their economic viability,” writes Ex Yu Aviation. 

The Air Transat service between Toronto and Zagreb, however, is still scheduled to resume flights on June 2.

Recall, Ex Yu Aviation reported last week that Emirates delayed the start date of its daily seasonal service between Dubai and Zagreb from May 1 to July 1, 2020, instead of suspending the service for an entire year, as many others have thus far. 

“Emirates has published a tentative schedule outlining its operations for the coming months. The airline is expected to resume the majority of its services, albeit at a reduced frequency, from late May and early June. Starting July, flights to Zagreb will be maintained on a daily basis with the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which has the capacity to seat 354 passengers. Further changes remain possible,” writes Ex Yu Aviation on its website. 

Flydubai, Emirates partner, which runs to Dubrovnik, will resume regular services “when the time is right”, but until then, it will fly for repatriation purposes. Flydubai has been operating repatriation flights to Zagreb over the last few weeks for travelers to continue to their destinations via Croatia Airlines flights.

"We look forward to resuming our operations when the time is right and we are working closely with the authorities,” said Chief Commercial Officer, Hamad Obaidalla.

American Airlines and Qatar Airways are suspending their seasonal services to Dubrovnik until 2021. 

Croatia Airlines has suspended operations to London Heathrow until at least April 19, though the national carrier is still operating flights to Frankfurt and Brussels. 

Lufthansa Group confirmed the Germanwings closure, which is another important player in the Croatian low-cost market, and AirBaltic has canceled the newly announced flights between Lithuania and Croatia. 

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 12, 2020 - Do foreigners in Croatia feel more or less safe sitting out COVID-19 here than in their home country, and what are their experiences? A new series on Total Croatia News, with Francesco Mazzoleni from Italy in Zagreb as the 38th contributor.

Oxford University recently published some research on government responses to coronavirus which showed that Croatia currently has the strictest measures in the world. While inconvenient, this is a good thing in terms of reducing the spread of the virus, and I am certainly not alone in my admiration of the official Croatian handling of this crisis in recent weeks, both in terms of action and communication. 

But what do other expats here think? And how does it compare with the response in their home country? Would they rather sit this one out here or there? A new series on TCN, we will be featuring expats from all over the world to see what their views are on life in corona Croatia rather than back home. So far we have heard from expats in Croatia from Romania, USA, Ireland, UK, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Singapore, Holland, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Latvia, China, Honduras, Hungary, Moldova, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Germany. Next up, Francesco Mazzoleni from Italy in Zagreb.

Francesco actually contacted us for another reason, as well as offering us something beautiful, which you can see below, before happily agreeing to become the first Italian in this popular series. 

Hi,

I'm writing to you because I am following your news and I like the way you write, but this last period we are all the time bombed with news about corona. I'm an Italian percussionist working in Zagreb and I am sending you the last video my colleague and me released with our percussion duo, in case you want to talk of something else. :)

Beautiful! Thanks Francesco. Now tell us how things are with you.

Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.

I'm good, I'm lucky to be able to spend this time with my girlfriend in my apartment in the center of Zagreb. I'm a percussionist of the Symphonic orchestra of the radio and television (HRT) and the thing I'm suffering the most in this period is the fact of not being able to make music as we were used to.

For this reason, I decided to change my musical routines to arranging new music for my percussion duo and contacting composers from Italy to start a project of new music for our duo, to use this period as an opportunity for creativity.

Besides this I'm spending a lot of time exploring new things, such as cooking as never before, films, painting, listening to music, reading and practicing yoga every day helps to keep me sane and discover who I am.

When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue? 

I realized it was going to be a big issue when I saw the numbers raising exponentially in Italy. It's hard to understand what's going on when things happen so fast.

What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis? How safe do you feel?

I think Croatia is dealing with this crisis in the best possible way. Learning from the mistake of Italy of not closing activities and schools when the numbers were still low, Croatia acted on this very early and this is helping to have a low spread of the virus compared to other countries.

I feel safe with the decisions the government is taking.

Now compare that to your home country and how they are handling it. What is Croatia doing better/worse?

Italy, unfortunately, was the first European country that got attacked by the virus and for this reason, the measures of prevention taken were delayed, causing what we are seeing in these days.

Croatia acted on it in time, and the situation here is much better.

What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?

In this aspect I think the authorities of both countries are dealing with it in a good and calm way, taking the situation as it is and giving it the importance it should have.

What's the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation.

My family and my friends. 

One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis. 

I have learned where to put the focus in my life. The fact of slowing down the rhythm of actions we do each day, the point of life is to enjoy what we do and feeling a whole with our surrounding whatever and however it is. 

About others, I have learned that in a situation of difficulties, we can count on each other and we have to trust others to create a better future together.

Thanks, Francesco. Stay safe and see you on the other side.  

TCN is starting a new feature series on foreign experiences of sitting out COVID-19 here in Croatia compared to their home country. If you would like to contribute, the questions are below. Please also include a para about yourself and where you are from, and a link to your website if you would like. Please also send 3-4 photos minimum to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Corona Foreigner

If you would be interested to record a video version for our partners www.rplus.video please let us know in the email. Thanks and stay safe. 

Foreigners Self-Isolating in Croatia: Do You Feel Safer Than in Your Home Country?

Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.

What do you think about the economic measures the government is taking, are they helping your business? (PLEASE IGNORE IF THIS DOES NOT AFFECT YOU)

When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue? 

What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis? How safe do you feel?

Now compare that to your home country and how they are handling it. What is Croatia doing better/worse?

What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?

What's the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation.

One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis. 

TCN has recently become a partner in Robert Tomic Zuber's new R+ video channel, initially telling stories about corona experiences. You can see the first TCN contribution from this morning, my video from Jelsa talking about the realities of running a news portal in the corona era below. If you would like to also submit a video interview, please find Robert's guidelines below 

VIDEO RECORDING GUIDE

The video footage should be recorded so that the cell phone is turned horizontally (landscape mode).

There are several rules for television and video news:- length is not a virtue- a picture speaks more than a thousand words

In short, this would mean that your story should not last more than 90 seconds and that everything you say in the report should be shown by video (for example, if you talk about empty streets, we should see those empty streets, etc.).

How to do it with your cell phone? First, use a selfie camera to record yourself telling your story for about a minute and a half. Ideally, it would be taken in the exterior, except in situations where you are reporting on things in the interior (quarantine, hospital, self-isolation, etc.). Also, when shooting, move freely, make sure everything is not static.

After you have recorded your report, you should capture footage that will tell your story with a picture, such as an earlier example with empty streets.

One of the basic rules of TV journalism is that the story is told in the same way as a journalist with his text. Therefore, we ask you for additional effort. Because we work in a very specific situation, sometimes you may not be able to capture footage for each sentence of the report. In this case, record the details on the streets: people walking, the main features of the city where you live, inscriptions on the windows related to the virus, etc.

The same rules apply if you are shooting a story from your apartment, self-isolation, quarantine. We also need you to capture footage that describes your story.

When shooting frames to cover your reports, it is important that you change the angle of the shot (in other words, shoot that empty street from several angles). Also, when shooting a detail, count at least five seconds before removing the camera to another detail.

The material should be about 5 minutes long (90 seconds of your report + frames to cover your story).

After recording everything, send us to Zagreb, preferably via WeTransfer to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Wash your hands.

April 13, 2020 - After all the media attention about Za Krizen 2020, what a beautiful footnote and gesture - Varbonj za Zagreb. 

People often ask me what is my favourite time of year on Hvar, and my answer always surprises them. 

Most expect me to talk about the summer, or perhaps the more relaxed shoulder seasons. While these are amazing, if I could only visit my adopted island once a year, it would not be then. 

It would be Easter. 

There is so much joy and celebration in the air, as the island wakes from its winter slumber, returning islanders home for the long weekend, enjoying family reunions amid this most important of Catholic events. 

After days of silence, the sound of the peeling of the Jelsa bells on Easter Sunday morning is one of the most joyous sounds imaginable, as was evidenced by the number of people who liked, shared and tagged others when I posted the video above from our terrace two days ago. 

I was very fortunate to be able to attend the entire Za Krizen 2020 in Jelsa, and I managed to capture all six processions. I was also very happy to be able to contribute my eye-witness account of the whole evening, which differed considerably from what was reported second-hand elsewhere. You can read Za Krizen 2020, Croatia Not Wuhan & Cabin Fever Perspectives. (You can also find a Croatian version here)

I had the loveliest phone call of 2020 so far earlier today from Toni Bratanic, the father of this year's cross-bearer from Vrbanj (Varbonj in dialect). He thanked me for the TCN coverage, including the video of Vrbanj entering Jelsa which was edited by my wife Miranda (above). 

And then he told me about a little initiative called Varbonj za Zagreb. Rather than me trying to explain it, here is what Toni sent me in an email which followed. 

Varbonj za Zagreb – Za Križen 2020

Dear parishioners and all people of goodwill!

On the proposal of the family of Mateo Bratanic, this year’s “Križonoša” and with the support of the parish economic council, we are launching a humanitarian action for Zagreb called “Varbonj za Zagreb – Za Križen 2020” due to the recent earthquakes that occurred there. This benefit, which is very special, has taught us, among other things, about solidarity, in this case towards those who are left without a roof over their heads. And so, a little village by the name Varbonj decided to help the big city of Zagreb. A long-term tradition is that all of those who are in “Čosti” for “Za Križen,” donate physical and/or monetary gifts. Even people who are not in “Čosti” usually take part as well. This year’s Križonoša, Mateo, has decided to give up all gifts in favor of this action and all money planned to spend on lunch and dinner after Easter which is usually held for people who took part in helping in any way during the preparations and actual procession. In addition to gifts given to Mateo, people will be able to give donations to the Varbonj’s priest, don Mili Plenkovic but also directly to the church bank account.

The account number is HR5824070001100623865 and make sure to provide a note “Varbonj za Zagreb” in the description. The parish will also donate “lemozinu,” money collected during Holy Week. We will be collecting donations until next Sunday April 19^th, 2020. This is when we will be announcing the total amount that we have collected.

Thank you and God bless! 

A nice postscript to a very emotional week here on Hvar. I will write an article about the amount raised after the final amount is known after Sunday. 

For more on TCN's coverage of Za Krizen 2020 and previous years, visit the dedicated section.