bors. Croatia has borders with Slo-
venia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and shares a
maritime border with Italy. In terms
of the political and administrative
structures, Croatia is a unitary parlia-
mentary constitutional republic.
The Parliament of Croatia, the “Sa-
bor,” consists of 151 members elect-
ed to four-year terms. It takes 76
members to form a government and,
while Croatian politics are generally
lead by two large parties, one center-
right and one center-left, it usually
requires the lead party to need the
support of lesser parties to form a
coalition government. Currently, the
coalition government is center-right.
Q: What does Croatia’s trade and
economic arena look like?
A:
The major export commodi-
ties include transport equipment,
machinery, textiles, chemicals, food
processing, ship building and fuels.
Croatia’s primary export partners
are Italy (19% of export), Bosnia and
Herzegovina (15%), Germany (11%),
Slovenia (8%) and Austria (6%). Most
important of all is the tourism indus-
try, with about 16 million foreign
visitors and 90 million tourist nights
per year. Estimates are that tourism
represents up to 25% of the economy.
The government is trying to double
the tourism industry by 2020.
Q: Is it true that the white stone
from the island of Brac made the
White House?
A:
The stone mined from a quar-
ry in the Croatian island of Brac is
widely known for its whiteness and
exported all around the world, but
there is no evidence that it was used
in the making of the White House
in Washington, DC. Still, it is a very
36 iF Magazine | July 2017
popular belief in Croatia. The White
House is actually built from a brown
stone from a quarry in Virginia. Alas,
the whiteness comes from white
paint.
rushing into an impossibly blue Adri-
atic, with many islands, desert land-
scapes of its Northern islands, green
and turquoise rivers and valleys, and
waterfalls, hilly areas in the north-
west to the Pannonian Basin on the
Q: Can you tell us about the phys- Northeast and East. Equally diversi-
ically diverse aspects of the country? fied is the cultural heritage that has
been developed under the dominant
neighboring cultures: Venetian/Ital-
A: If you look at a map of Croatia, ian along the Adriatic coast, Central
you will find that it is in the shape of European, Hapsburg Austro Hun-
a croissant. Considering its relatively garian on the north and West, Ot-
small area, Croatia is close to the size toman, Levantine on the South East.
of West Virginia, and has 4.2 million All these influences are physically
inhabitants, there is hardly any land- visible at the first sight in country’s
scape imaginable, save glaciers, that architectural styles which span from
one cannot find in Croatia. From the Ancient Greco-Roman, from Ve-
the drama of the 6,000 ft. mountains