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, #3

Franjo Tuđman, #5

Janica Kostelić, #17

Rade Šerbedžija, #23

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. Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), electrical engineer and inventor, most people claim he was actually a Serb
3. Ruđer Bošković (1711–1787), physicist, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher
4. Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981), writer, playwright and poet
5. Franjo Tuđman (1922–1999), statesman, President of Croatia 1990–99
6. Dražen Petrović (1964–1993), basketball player, Olympic silver medalist
7. Stjepan Mesić (b. 1934), President of Croatia 2000–10
8. Ivo Andrić (1892–1975), novelist, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
9. Tin Ujević (1891–1955), poet
10. Stevo Karapandža (b. 1947), celebrity chef
11. Tomislav of Croatia (?–928), 10th-century ruler of Croatia
12. Rahim Ademi (b. 1954), Croatian Army general
13. Stipe Šuvar (1936–2004), sociologist and politician
14. Vlado Gotovac (1930–2000), poet and politician
15. Ivan Meštrović (1883–1962), sculptor and architect
16. Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815–1905), Roman Catholic bishop, benefactor and politician
17. Janica Kostelić (b. 1982), alpine ski racer, Olympic gold medalist
18. Stjepan Radić (1871–1928), early 20th century politician
19. Josip Jelačić (1801–1859), 19th-century Ban (viceroy) of Croatia
20. Ante Starčević (1823–1896), 19th-century politician
21. Alojzije Stepinac (1898–1960), Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Zagreb 1937–1960
22. Branimir Štulić (b. 1953), singer, songwriter and poet
23. Rade Šerbedžija (b. 1946), stage and film actor
24. Matija Gubec (c. 1556–1573), 16th-century leader of a peasant revolt
25. Mirko Ilić (b. 1956), graphic designer and comics artist
26. Miroslav Radman (b. 1944), biologist
27. Ivan Supek (1915–2007), physicist, philosopher, and writer
28. Franjo Kuharić (1919–2002), Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Zagreb 1970–1997
29. Branko Bauer (1921–2002), film director
30. Ante Gotovina (b. 1955), Croatian army lieutenant-general
31. Miljenko Smoje (1923–1995), writer and journalist
32. Goran Ivanišević (b. 1971), tennis player, winner of Wimbledon
33. Marija Jurić Zagorka (1873–1957), journalist and novelist
34. Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874–1938), children's writer
35. Ljudevit Gaj (1809–1872), 19th-century linguist, politician and writer
36. Marko Marulić (1450–1524), 15th-century poet
37. Petar Zrinski (1621–1671) & Fran Krsto Frankopan (1643–1671), 17th-century noblemen, leaders of the Magnate conspiracy
38. Mile Dedaković (b. 1951), soldier, one of the Croatian commanders in the 1991 Battle of Vukovar
39. Lavoslav Ružička (1887–1976), scientist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate
40. Juraj Dalmatinac (1410–1473), medieval sculptor and architect
41. Krešimir Ćosić (1948–1995), basketball player, Olympic medalist and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee
42. Slavoljub Penkala (1871–1922), engineer and inventor, created the mechanical pencil
43. Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), author and politician
44. Ivan Gundulić (1589–1638), baroque Ragusan poet
45. Arsen Dedić (1938–2015), singer-songwriter, composer and poet
46. Marin Držić (1508–1567), renaissance Ragusan playwright
47. Tarik Filipović (b. 1972), actor and television personality
48. Goran Bregović (b. 1950), musician and composer
49. Mate Ujević (1901–1967), poet and lexicographer
50. Savka Dabčević-Kučar (1923–2009), politician, one of the leaders of the Croatian Spring movement
51. Miroslav Blažević (b. 1935), association football coach, led Croatia to third place in the 1998 FIFA World Cup
52. Dušan Vukotić (1927–1998), cartoonist, winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
53. Severina Vučković (b. 1972), pop singer and actress
54. Ivica Račan (1944–2007), politician and prime minister of Croatia 2000–2003
55. Marko Perković Thompson (b. 1966), pop singer
56. Ivan Goran Kovačić (1913–1943), poet and writer, killed in World War II
57. Vladimir Prelog (1906–1998), scientist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate
58. Branko Lustig (1932–2019), film producer, two-time Academy Awards winner
59. Dražen Budiša (b. 1948), politician, one of the leaders of the Croatian Spring movement
60. Mate Parlov (1948–2008), boxer, Olympic gold medalist
61. Vatroslav Lisinski (1819–1854), 19th-century composer
62. Faust Vrančić (1551–1617), polymath and inventor, best known for his 16th-century parachute design
63. Boris Dvornik (1939–2008), actor
64. Vlaho Bukovac (1855–1922), painter
65. Andrija Štampar (1888–1958), promoter of social medicine
66. Bernard Vukas (1927–1983), footballer, best known for his two spells at HNK Hajduk Split
67. Zinka Kunc (1906–1989), opera soprano, performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera and Milan's La Scala opera houses
68. Antun Mihanović (1796–1861), poet, best known for penning the lyrics to the Croatian anthem
69. Fabijan Šovagović (1932–2001), actor
70. Slavenka Drakulić (b. 1949), writer and journalist
71. August Šenoa (1838–1881), 19th-century novelist
72. Andrija Maurović (1901–1981), comic book artist, known as the "father of Croatian comics"
73. Antun Augustinčić (1900–1979), sculptor
74. Ante Topić Mimara (1898–1987), art collector, founder of the Mimara Museum
75. Edo Murtić (1921–2005), painter
76. Ivo Pogorelić (b. 1958), pianist
77. Bruno Bušić (1939–1978), promoter of Croatia's independence, assassinated in exile in 1978
78. Frano Supilo (1870–1917), politician and journalist, founder of Novi list daily
79. Goran Višnjić (b. 1972), actor, best known for starring in the American TV series ER
80. Vlaho Bukovac (duplicate entry, see #64)
81. Andrija Hebrang (1899–1949), politician
82. Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger (1856–1936), paleontologist, discovered the Neanderthal site near Krapina
83. Juraj Križanić (1618–1683), 17th-century Catholic missionary
84. Marin Getaldić (1568–1626), Ragusan scientist, best known for his work in optics
85. Antun Gustav Matoš (1873–1914), poet and essayist
86. Franjo Šeper (1905–1981), Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Zagreb 1960–1970
87. Oliver Mlakar (b. 1935), television presenter
88. Mirko Seljan (1871–1913) & Stjepan Seljan (1875–1936), explorers best known for their travels in South America and Africa
89. Ivan Lupis (1813–1875), officer of the Austrian Navy, credited as the inventor of the torpedo
90. Ante Trumbić (1864–1938), politician
91. Franjo Trenk (1711–1749), Austrian officer, known as "father of the military band"
92. Ivo Robić (1923–2000), singer and songwriter
93. Ivan Generalić (1914–1992), naïve art painter
94. Lovro pl. Matačić (1899–1985), conductor
95. Slava Raškaj (1877–1906), 19th-century deaf woman painter
96. Vladimir Prelog (duplicate entry, see #57)
97. Branko Gavella (1885–1962), theatre director and essayist
98. Krešo Golik (1922–1996), film director and screenwriter
99. Bartol Kašić (1575–1650), linguist, wrote the first Croatian grammar and translated the Bible into Croatian
100. 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.