A renowned Croatian novelist and playwright, Miro Gavran, received the Dr. Alois Mock-Europapreis award at a ceremony in Vienna on Wednesday evening. The ceremony marked the end of the Croatia-Austria Year of Culture 2017, the two countries’ largest bilateral project since the establishment of diplomatic relations 25 years ago.
"The project has been very successful and proved how close the ties between the two friendly countries are," said Teresa Indjein, the head of the department for culture within the Austrian Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.
Croatia's Ambassador to Austria, Vesna Cvjetković said that the project helped the two countries to foster closer ties.
In Austria alone, some 1,000 events were held under this project.
The climax of the project was an exhibition entitled "The Challenge of Modernism: Vienna and Zagreb around 1900" which was first held in in Zagreb's Klovićevi Dvori Gallery and was opened in Vienna's Belvedere Gallery in mid-October. The exhibition gives a cross-section of visual artists who were active in Vienna and Zagreb at the turn of the 20th century. A total of 130 works by Viennese Secession artists, including Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Karl Moll, Max Kurzweiler, Tina Blau and Josef Hoffmann, will be displayed alongside works by Croatian artists Vlaho Bukovac, Tomislav Križman, Ivan Meštrović, Robert Auer, Nasta Rojc and Slava Raškaj.
An exhibition called "Hommage a Nasta Rojc", which was staged in Porcia Palace also drew great interest.
A score of literary events were organised and the project of the city of Rijeka which will be one of the two capitals of culture in Europe in 2020 was also promoted in Vienna.
The head of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Zagreb, Susanne Ranetsky, commended this successful project.
"We have been partners to almost all big festivals in Croatia this year," she said. (Hina)