Croatian declared official language 174 years ago
- by croatiaweek
- in News
ZAGREB, 23 Nov (Hina) – Parliament recalled on Tuesday that Croatian was declared the official language instead of Latin 174 years ago today.
The Sabor adopted the historic decision on the official use of the national language on 23 October 1847 and parliament started using it in its work in 1848.
At the last Sabor session of 1847, Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski warned the people’s representatives about the need to introduce the official language in public services. At his proposal, parliament adopted a conclusion to that effect.
The introduction of Croatian as the official language was preceded by 50 years of political struggle, notably revivalist attempts to adopt and apply a uniform orthography and adopt the Shtokavian dialect as the basis of the official language.
The first address in Croatian was delivered in parliament by Kukuljević Sakcinski on 2 May 1843.
Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski statue in Zagreb (Photo: Silverije/CC BY-SA 3.0)
Kukuljević Sakcinski (1816-1889), a Croatian politician, historian and author, was one of the leaders of the Croatian National Revival, also known as the Illyrian movement.
