Zagreb, Croatia -- This promenade is named after Josip Juraj Strossmayer who was both the archbishop as well as a noted politician who founded the Croatian People's Party (today called Liberal Democrats). Its foundation was the belief that Serbs and Croats should be integrated and abandon their own nationalist feelings and institutions. Furthermore he supported the use of the Slavonic (instead of Latin) rite in both Catholic and Orthodox churches. This a century before Vatican II let Catholics hear mass in their native tongue. (In fact, the brothers Cyril and Methodius who converted the Slavs always said mass and administered the sacraments in the Slavic languages -- back in the 9th century. They had to invent their own alphabet -- the Cyrillic -- to do so.) (Croatia today uses the Latin alphabet)

First | Previous Picture | Next Picture | Last | Thumbnails