Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Today, its main goals are encouraging and organizing scientific work, applying the achieved results, developing of artistic and cultural activities, carrying about the Croatian cultural heritage and its affirmation in the world, publishing the results of scientific research and artistic creativity and giving suggestions and opinions for the advancement of science and art in areas of particular importance to Croatia. The academy is divided into nine classes; social sciences, mathematical, physical and chemical sciences, natural sciences, medical sciences, philological sciences, Literature, Fine Arts, Musical Arts and Musicology, technical sciences. The academy started in 1866 with 16 full members which grew to today's 160. Besides full, members can also be honorary, corresponding or associate.

• Name — Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts • Native Name — Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti • Abbreviation — HAZU • Type — National academy • Purpose — Science, arts, academics • Headquarters — Trg Nikole Šubića Zrinskog 11, Zagreb, Croatia • Num Members — 134 full members (As of 2020 11) • Leader Title — Chairman • Leader Name — Velimir Neidhardt • Main Organ — Presidency of the Academy • Budget — €17,056,977 (2026) • Website — http: www.hazu.hr/

The institution was founded in Zagreb on 29 April 1861 by the decision of the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts. The bishop and benefactor Josip Juraj Strossmayer, a prominent advocate of higher education during the 19th century Croatian national romanticism, set up a trust fund for this purpose and in 1860 submitted a large donation to the then viceroy (ban) of Croatia Josip Šokčević for the cause of being able to bring together the best minds and find a way in which books in the national languages could be produced in the Slavic South; the Academy should also take under its aegis all the areas of human science • Illustration — Academy Palace in the 1890s After some years of deliberations by the Croatian Parliament and the emperor Franz Joseph, it was finally sanctioned by law in 1866. The official sponsor was Josip Juraj Strossmayer, while the first chairman of the academy was the distinguished Croatian historian Franjo Rački. Serbian linguist Đuro Daničić was elected secretary general of the academy, where he played a key role in preparing the academy's dictionary, the Croatian or Serbian Dictionary of JAZU. The academy's creation was the logical extension of the University of Zagreb, the institution initially created in 1669 and also renewed by bishop Strossmayer in 1874. Bishop Strossmayer also initiated the building of the Academy Palace in the Zrinjevac park of Zagreb, and the Palace was completed in 1880. In 1884, the palace also became a host of the Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters that contained 256 works of art (mostly paintings). The same is today one of the most prominent art galleries in Zagreb. The academy started publishing the academic journal Rad in 1867. In 1882, each of the individual scientific classes of the academy started printing their own journals. In 1887, the academy published the first Ljetopis as a year book, as well as several other publications in history and ethnology. Vatroslav Jagić, Baltazar Bogišić, Nikola Tesla, Mihailo Petrović, Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger, Andrija Mohorovičić, Ivan Meštrović, Lavoslav Ružička, Vladimir Prelog, Ivo Andrić, Miroslav Krleža, Ivan Supek and Franjo Tuđman were JAZU/HAZU members.

The academy briefly changed name from "Yugoslav" to "Croatian" between 1941 and 1945 during the Independent State of Croatia. It has again been renamed "Croatian" in 1991 after Croatia gained independence from Yugoslavia.

• Illustration — Interior of the Academy Palace The academy is divided into nine departments (classes): • Department of Social Sciences • Department of Mathematical, Physical and Chemical Sciences • Department of Natural Sciences • Department of Medical Sciences • Department of Philological Sciences • Department of Literature • Department of Fine Arts • Department of Music and Musicology • Department of Technical Sciences

One of the research units of the academy is the Institute for Historical Sciences. It is located in a Renaissance villa in Dubrovnik, and holds a rich manuscript and library collection. Two peer-reviewed journals are published by the institute, which are fully available online: Anali in Croatian and Dubrovnik Annals in English.

The Institute for Ornithology houses the Croatian bird ringing scheme, and is a member of the European Union for Bird Ringing (EURING).

• No. — Portrait — Chairman — Term • 1 — — Franjo Rački — 1866–1886 • 2 — Pavao Muhić — 1886–1890 • 3 — — Josip Torbar — 1890–1900 • 4 — — Tadija Smičiklas — 1900–1914 • 5 — — Tomislav Maretić — 1914–1918 • 6 — Vladimir Mažuranić — 1918–1921 • 7 — Gustav Janeček — 1921–1924 • 8 — — Gavro Manojlović — 1924–1933 • 9 — Albert Bazala — 1933–1941 • 10 — Tomo Matić — 1941–1946 • 11 — — Andrija Štampar — 1946–1958 • 12 — — Grga Novak — 1958–1978 • 13 — — Jakov Sirotković — 1978–1991 • 14 — Ivan Supek — 1991–1997 • 15 — Ivo Padovan — 1997–2004 • 16 — — Milan Moguš — 2004–2010 • 17 — — Zvonko Kusić — 2010–2018 • 18 — Velimir Neidhardt — 2019–present

In 2023 the museum restituted to the heirs of Dane Reichsmann artworks that had been looted, including André Derain's “Still Life With a Bottle” and Maurice de Vlaminck's “Landscape by the Water”, as well as lithographs by Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Pierre Bonnard.