300th Alka Tournament

An equestrian competition taking place every first Sunday of August since 1715 in the town of Sinj in the Dalmatian hinterland, it commemorates the victory of 15 August 1715 when 700 Croatian horsemen managed to repel the assault of 60,000 Ottoman soldiers that sieged the town. One of the last authentic chivalry tournaments, Sinjska Alka was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. The horseman (Alkar) rides his horse down the race track and tries to hit the central ring of the alka (ø 3.5 cm) with his spear in full gallop. The alka is a metal object made of two concentric circles connected with three equidistant bars suspended on a rope 3.32 metres above the race track.

2015

11 December

Photo: HTZ Zagreb / Mirsad Mehulić

Zagreb Christmas Market voted best in Europe

The Croatian capital was awarded the title of best Christmas market in Europe. Zagreb received the most votes by voters from 176 countries on the Internet site European Best Destinations. This title was confirmed the following year: in December 2016, Zagreb established itself again at the top of the rating, in competition with Strasbourg, Colmar, Aix-la-Chapelle, Vienna, Dresden, Tallinn, Prague, Budapest and Brussels. This success was repeated in 2017, for a third year in a row.