Antun Mihanović

Who was Antun Mihanović?

Antun Mihanović was a notable Croatian poet and lyricist, most famous for writing the national anthem of Croatia, which was put to music by Josif Runjanin and adopted in 1891. Klanjec, his birthplace, holds a monument to him and a gallery of his works.

Mihanović studied law and worked as a military judge. After engaging in diplomacy, he was the Austrian consul in Belgrade, Thessaloniki, Smyrna, Istanbul and Bucharest. He retired in 1858 as a minister counselor, and lived in Novi Dvori until his death.

The poem which would become the Croatian anthem was Horvatska domovina. It was first published in the cultural magazine Danica ilirska, No. 10, edited by Ljudevit Gaj, in 1835. The anthem itself would become known as Lijepa naša, since those are the first two words of the poem.

Mihanović also wrote a small but important book, Rěč domovini o hasnovitosti pisanja vu domorodnom jeziku, published in Vienna in 1815. The ideas in this book became one of the foundations of the Illyrian Movement.