22 February declared Croatian Glagolitic Script Day

Zagreb, 16 February 2019 – The Croatian Parliament has voted on Friday to declare the 22nd of February as the official Croatian Glagolitic Script Day. 

The Glagolitic alphabet was preserved only by Croats who used it from the 12th to the 20th century, mostly in liturgy. 

With the aim of  popularising this Croatian alphabet and script as the guardian of Croatian identity, the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics launched a campaign called “Croatian Glagolitic Script Day” last year. 

Croatian Glagolitic Script Day will now be observed in Croatia on 22nd of February and will in memory of the publishing of Missale Romanum Glagolitice, Croatian: Misal po zakonu rimskoga dvora), a Croatian missal, written in the Glagolitic script, and incunabulum printed on 22 February 1483.

Missale Romanum Glagolitice was printed in two colors – black and red, and just 28 years after the Gutenberg Bible was printed. This showed that Croats had been extremely developed in the social, economic and cultural sense already in the 15th century.

It is also the first printed Croatian book and also the first missal in Europe not published in the Latin script.  

The initiative had the support also of the Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and the Croatian Ministry of Culture.