Thematic collections

The collection brings together the archived online content related to presidential elections in Croatia. Held every five years, after a five-year term to which a president is elected, these elections are called by the Government of the Republic of Croatia within the deadline which enables each election to be held at least 30 days and at most 60 days before a president’s term of office expires.

The Croatian president is elected by the citizens of Croatia aged 18 and over by secret ballot.

The collection features websites, including those of public institutions and organisations publishing content related to Croatia’s presidential elections, as well as news sites’ articles covering the elections.

The collection features archived online content related to world handball championships in which the Croatian team achieved significant results. The first resources archived in the Collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed in 2025.

Resources in the collection include websites, including those of public institutions and organisations publishing content related to the championships, as well as news and sport sites’ articles covering the competitions.

The 2024 Summer Olympics were held from 26 July to 11 August in Paris, bringing together more than 10,500 athletes who competed in 32 different sports. Altogether 73 Croatian competitors who took part in the Paris Olympics 2024 won 7 medals in total. Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 28 August 2024 and include websites, news sites’ articles and other online content related to the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The collection contains 53 URLs, totalling 208 GB of data.

On 28 May 2024, the Croatian Web Archive (HAW) organised its web searching competition (HAWathon) in Rijeka, joining forces with the Rijeka City Library and Rijeka’s Mijo Mirković secondary school (Ekonomska škola Mije Mirkovića Rijeka). The school’s students competed in searching the internet using specified criteria to find as many hyperlinks as possible with content on Ri Rock, Rijeka’s association and festival promoting rock and other related genres of urban music, and thus participated in the creation of this thematic collection. 

Resources in the collection include websites, news sites’ articles and blog posts.  

The collection contains 132 URLs, totalling 177 GB of data.

On 28 May 2024, Rijeka hosted a HAWathon, a web searching competition organised by HAW, the Croatian Web Archive, dedicated to Rijeka’s 19^th-century heroine, Karolina Riječka.

The Archive organised this edition of HAWathon in collaboration with the Rijeka City Library and Rijeka’s commerce and fashion design secondary school (Škola za trgovinu i modni dizajn Rijeka), the students of whose first class made their contribution to the creation of this thematic collection by competing in searching the internet using specified criteria to find as many hyperlinks as possible with content on the charming, adamant and witty young lady who in 1813 saved Rijeka from the attacks of the British fleet.  

Resources in the collection include websites, news sites’ articles and blog posts. 

The collection contains 40 URLs, totalling 37 GB of data.

On 21 May 2024, the Croatian Web Archive (HAW) organised its web searching competition, another HAWathon, in Knin, as a result of its cooperation with the Juraj Šižgorić City Library, from Šibenik, and two Knin’s secondary schools (Srednja škola Lovre Montija, Srednja strukovna škola Kralja Zvonimira). 

The students in the first class of the Lovro Monti school’s academically oriented programme and the students in the third class of the Kralj Zvonimir school’s programme for electronics technicians competed in searching the internet using specified criteria to find as many hyperlinks as possible with content on the notable Croatian writer, a native of Knin, Dinko Šimunović (1873-1933), and thus contributed to the creation of this thematic collection. 

Resources in the collection include websites, news sites’ articles, blog posts and research papers from the Croatian scientific and professional journals portal (Hrčak). 

The collection contains 63 URLs, totalling 37 GB of data.

On 20 May 2024, Šibenik hosted a web searching competition, another HAWathon organised by HAW, the Croatian Web Archive. The HAWathon was organised as a result of the Archive’s cooperation with the Juraj Šižgorić City Library and Šibenik’s transportation and technical secondary school (Prometno-tehnička škola Šibenik). 

The students attending the school’s programme for yacht and marine technicians (class 1. f) competed in searching the internet using specified criteria to find as many hyperlinks as possible with content on the Croatian legendary basketball player and the first Croatian NBA player Dražen Petrović (1964-1993) and thus took part in the creation of this thematic collection. 

Resources in the collection include websites, news sites’ articles and blog posts. 

The collection contains 222 URLs, totalling 163 GB of data.  

On 20 May 2024, the Croatian Web Archive organised a HAWathon, its web searching competition, in cooperation with the Juraj Šižgorić City Library and Antun Vrančić Secondary School, in Šibenik. 

The school’s students competed in searching the internet using specified criteria to find as many hyperlinks as possible with content on Croatian award-winning and internationally recognised poet, composer and singer-songwriter Arsen Dedić (1938-2015) and thus took part in the creation of this thematic collection. 

Resources in the collection include websites, news sites’ articles, blog posts and research papers from the Croatian scientific and professional journals portal (Hrčak). 

The collection contains 210 URLs, totalling 133 GB of data.  

The collection includes archived online content on the elections of members to the European Parliament from the Republic of Croatia.

Members of the European Parliament from the Republic of Croatia are elected by direct universal, free and equal voting right and secret ballot for a five-year term. The elections are held in the course of the last year of the five-year term of the European Parliament in the electoral term set out by the Council of the European Union. The President of the Republic of Croatia delivers the decision on calling the election for members of the European Parliament.

The collection brings together archived online content on the elections for the members of the Croatian Parliament, held every four years.

On 16 April 2024, the Croatian Web Archive, Slatina City Library and Marko Marulić Secondary School in Slatina organised the third edition of HAWathon, the Archive's web searching competition. Focusing on Viktor Žmegač, the native of Slatina and Croatia's distinguished 20^th-century literary historian and Germanist, the competition brought together 36 students attending the School’s academically oriented programme (classes 2. a and 2. b).

 Searching the internet according to specified criteria to find as many hyperlinks with content on Žmegač as possible, the students took part in the creation of this thematic collection, which includes websites, news sites’ articles, blog posts and research papers from the Croatian scientific and professional journals portal (Hrčak).

 The collection contains 220 URLs, totalling 418 GB of data.  

On 15 April 2024, the Croatian Web Archive, Virovitica City Library and Virovitica secondary technical school organised the second HAWathon, the Archive’s web searching competition. Themed “Virovitica’s notables”, the competition brought together the School’s 63 students, who searched the internet using specified criteria to find as many theme-related hyperlinks as possible.

 The students were divided into three groups, each of which was tasked with finding online content on one of altogether three famous natives of Virovitica presented by this thematic collection:

1. Oto Horvat (20^th-cenutry mechanical engineer), on who the resources were collected by the students attending the mechatronics programme (class 1. t)
2. Mirko Danijel Bogdanić (18^th-century astronomer and mathematician, also known as Daniel Emerik), on who the resources were collected by the students attending the nursing programme (class 1. m)
3. Tomislav Maretić (prominent linguist at the turn of the 20^th century), on who the resources were collected by the students attending the nursing programme (class 2. m).

Resources in the collection include websites, news sites’ articles, blog posts and research papers from the Croatian scientific and professional journals portal (Hrčak).

The collection contains 111 URLs, totalling 39 GB of data.  

Artificial intelligence 2023

The collection’s creation was occasioned by the first anniversary of the 2022 launch of ChatGPT, an AI-based system which was made available to the public on 30 November that year. It includes websites, news releases, special features, news sites and other online content covering artificial intelligence in 2023.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 13 October 2023, resulting in 318 collected URLs, totalling 211 GB of data.

ChatGPT may be used for various purposes, such as this one:

Croatian Web Archive:

Hello, ChatGPT :), please compose a post for the website of the Croatian Web Archive about ChatGPT’s first birthday. Wishing to mark this day, we conducted a thematic web crawl to collect Croatian websites covering artificial intelligence. Please briefly introduce yourself and briefly explain what artificial intelligence is.

ChatGPT:

Hello! Of course, I'd be happy to write a post for my first birthday, along with a brief introduction of myself and an explanation of the concept of artificial intelligence. Here's how I could formulate it:

“Celebrating ChatGPT's first birthday – by learning more about artificial intelligence”

Dear visitors of the pages of the Croatian Web Archive

Today marks a special occasion, worth celebrating – the first birthday of ChatGPT! To commemorate this milestone, we wish to help you learn more about it and what drives it – artificial intelligence.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a system impersonating a human digital assistant. Developed by OpenAI, it is based on the powerful AI language model GPT-3.5. My purpose is to communicate with you through text, offer information, answer questions and provide you with support in various tasks. Although I'm a computer program, my key feature is the ability to understand natural language and generate appropriate textual responses. My knowledge spans various topics and information available up to my last update in September 2021. 

What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a field of study in computer science that deals with creating computer systems and programs capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. Apart from understanding natural language, these tasks include recognizing patterns, learning from experience, making decisions and many others. Various techniques that AI relies on to achieve its goals include machine learning, deep learning and artificial neural networks.

AI technologies have rapidly advanced in recent years, revolutionizing various fields including healthcare, science, finance, robotics, transportation, and more. This technological field continues to evolve and bring innovations that enhance our daily lives.

As we celebrate ChatGPT's first birthday, we invite you to explore the wealth of knowledge and resources gathered through our thematic web crawl. From discussions on AI advancements to insights into its applications across industries, these Croatian websites offer valuable perspectives on the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.

Join us in commemorating this special day and delve into the world of AI with ChatGPT by your side.

Happy browsing!

The Croatian Web Archive Team”

Thank you for the opportunity you provided to the ChatGPT system to help you in the past year. I’m looking forward to assist you in the future.

With love,

ChatGPT

Croatian Web Archive:

Thank you, and happy birthday! :)

ChatGPT:

You're very welcome! And thank you for the birthday wishes! If you have any more requests or need further assistance, feel free to ask. I’m glad that I was able to help you and that I celebrated my first birthday with you! :)

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, mounting missile attacks on a large part of Ukrainian territory, including its capital, Kyiv. Responding to the Russian aggression, the European Union, United States and other countries soon started providing Ukraine with economic and military assistance, at the same time imposing harsh sanctions against Russia. A great many civilians were killed in brutal Russian attacks and several million people left their homes in Ukraine fleeing the aggression.

In order to collect as wide a range of online resources on this topic as possible, the Archive invited the wider public to take part in gathering relevant content. Considering the continuing Russian aggression, new content is still being collected and will soon be added to the collection.

Marking the 110^th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Goran Kovačić, Croatia's great poet, storywriter, essayist, translator, journalist and literary critic, the Ivan Goran Kovačić City Library in Karlovac and the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) – through the activities of the Croatian Web Archive (HAW), the Library’s European Documentation Centre (EDC NSK) and the NSK User Services Department – jointly organised HAWathon, a competition whose participants focused on gathering online content thematising Kovačić’s life and work and whose final result was the creation of this thematic collection.

The cooperation which enabled HAWathon was initiated by the Ivan Goran Kovačić City Library in Karlovac, which in 2023 is celebrating 60 years of bearing the name of this notable Croatian author. Supporting HAWathon as partners were Karlovac Grammar School (Gimnazija Karlovac), European Commission Representation in Croatia and Europe Direct Karlovac.

HAWathon was also organised to mark the European Year of Skills, aimed at educating the wider public with regard to digital skills and information literacy, for which citizen science initiatives relying on crowdsourcing are the ideal opportunities.

The collection includes websites, news sites’ posts, websites of public institutions and organisations named after Ivan Goran Kovačić, blog posts, as well as papers on his life and work available on Hrčak, the Portal of Croatian scientific and professional journals, and thus brings together in one place all content on this subject in the Croatian Web Archive for both researchers and the wider public.

The collection contains 81 collected URLs, totalling 249 GB of data.

The Collection brings together archived online content covering the FIFA World Cup, an international football competition between senior men's national teams. Held every four years since 1930, the Cup did not take place only in 1942 and 1946, owing to World War Two.

Since Croatia gained independence in 1991, its national football team competed in six World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022), and the first thematic web crawl focusing on capturing the World Cup-related content on the Croatian national web domain was conducted in 2018, when Croatia won silver at the World Cup held in Russia.

Resources in the collection include websites, posts from news sites and websites covering sports, websites of public institutions and organisations publishing the World Cup-related content, etc.The Collection brings together archived online content covering the FIFA World Cup, an international football competition between senior men’s national teams. Held every four years since 1930, the Cup did not take place only in 1942 and 1946, owing to World War Two.

Since Croatia gained independence in 1991, its national football team competed in six World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022), and the first thematic web crawl focusing on capturing the World Cup-related content on the Croatian national web domain was conducted in 2018, when Croatia won silver at the World Cup held in Russia.

Resources in the collection include websites, posts from news sites and websites covering sports, websites of public institutions and organisations publishing the World Cup-related content, etc.

Human rights, the inalienable rights of all members of the human family, i.e. the economic, social, cultural and all other specific rights indispensable for human dignity and free personal development include equality before the law, legal protection against any discrimination, the right to freedom of thought and religion, right to education and to freedom of opinion, right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, right to peaceful assembly and association, right to freedom of movement, right to work and to free choice of employment, as well as the right to own property, to inherit, to seek asylum, etc.

Considering the great frequency of human rights-related public and online content, the collection offers a wide array of diverse and relevant resources on this topic. Collected as the result of the Archive’s cooperation with the Croatian Library Association’s Committee on Government Information and Official Publications, one of whose aims was to promote this type of content among librarians, the resources include websites and other content provided by government authorities, bodies of local government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and various human rights organisations, as well as content published on news sites, and are equally available to researchers, professionals and the wider public.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 22 November 2022, resulting in 135 collected URLs, totalling 253 GB of data.

On 27 July 2022, The Pelješac Bridge opened to traffic, enabling Croatia's southernmost territory to be linked by road with the rest of Croatia. Namely, to reach Dubrovnik-Neretva County from other parts of Croatia it was formerly necessary to pass through the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Neum corridor) which considerably influenced the county’s economy, tourist industry and the accompanying socio-economic indicators.

The 2.4-kilometre Bridge runs along the Mali Ston Bay and together with the construction of the Motorway A1 Zagreb-Split its construction was the largest infrastructure project in the three decades since Croatia gained its independence and a major project funded by the European Union.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 28 July 2022, resulting in 75 collected URLs, totalling 340 GB of data.

The collection was created through the Archive's cooperation with the Ivanić-Grad City Library, subject specialists of the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) and the Ivan Švear Secondary School in Ivanić-Grad as part of Citizen-Enhanced Open Science in Southeastern Europe Higher Education Knowledge Hubs, or CeOS_SE Project, a research project aimed at including European citizens in pan-European efforts focusing on open science. As a result of this successful cooperation, the collection makes available numerous resources on these as small as important inhabitants of our planet.

Responding to the recent raising of public awareness of climate change and of the need to urgently act in order to alleviate its impact, marking World Meteorological Day and fulfilling its task with regard to the role libraries must take in promoting resources on this pressing issue, the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) and the Croatian Web Archive, the Library's User Services Department, Official Publications Collection and NSK European Documentation Centre jointly prepared this collection.

The collection includes carefully selected varied online content, ranging from websites, through weather portals and resources related to ongoing climate change-related projects and programmes, to publications issued by bodies of central and local government and international organisations such as proposals, drafts and programmes focusing on environmental protection in relation to climate change, in which context UN Agenda 2030 and its 17 sustainable development goals, especially Goal 13, particularly stand out.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 18 March 2022, resulting in 133 collected URLs, totalling 99 GB of data.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2), started in December 2019, in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, wherefrom it rapidly spread to the rest of the world, causing a wide range of global socio-economic consequences.

The collection includes websites and news sites covering issues relating to the origin of the latest coronavirus, infection patterns, experiences of COVID-19 patients, official mortality rates and other COVID-19 cases-related statistics and recommendations from doctors, politicians, researchers and healthcare professionals. Also, the included resources cover the medical, scientific, social, economic and political aspects of the pandemic.

In order to make the collection as comprehensive as possible, the Croatian Web Archive issued a call for submissions of relevant COVID-19-online content.

The Government of the Republic of Croatia officially declared the end of the pandemic on May 11, 2023.

The collection brings together archived online content on climate change, energy efficiency, waste management, industrial pollution management, water protection, recycling and other related issues.

In November 2021, Croatia marked the 30th anniversary of the suffering of Vukovar in the 1991-1995 Croatian Homeland War. The National and University Library in Zagreb joined this commemoration by archiving selected online content related to this anniversary, along with content presenting the life of this heroic city today.

Webpages, news sites and other online content included in the collection were harvested in a crawl performed on 29 October 2021 as part of preparations for an exhibition spotlighting Vukovar's tragedy as well as its centuries-long cultural heritage (Sloboda se njegovim imenom zove), whose programme also included the presentation of two online exhibitions, one presenting Vukovar-related cultural heritage (Vukovar) and the other Vukovar's contemporary culture (Kultura u Vukovaru danas).

The collection includes 60 URLs, totalling 69 GB of data.

The collection brings together archived online content on the Croatian elections for the members of the representative bodies of the units of local and regional self-government, municipality heads, mayors and county prefects and their deputies, held every four years.

On 29 December 2020 at 12.19 PM an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale with the epicentre at 3 kilometres southwest of the city of Petrinja severely hit Croatia's Sisak-Moslavina County, resulting in human casualties and extensive material damage in Sisak, Petrinja, Glina and other cities, towns and villages in the county.

The earthquake was one of the two strongest recorded earthquakes in the Republic of Croatia since the beginning of the 20th century and apart from all across Croatia it was also felt in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Montenegro, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed between 4 and 6 February 2021, resulting in 452 collected URLs, totalling 144 GB of data.

From 1 January to 30 June 2020, Croatia presided over the Council of the European Union for the first time since its accession to the European Union in 2013. Croatia's first term in this capacity, for which the presiding offices were located at the National and University Library in Zagreb, was marked by the unfavourable conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The websites and news sites included in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed between 16 to 23 November 2020, resulting in 89 collected URLs, totalling 115 GB of data.

On 22 March 2020 at 6.24 AM an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, with the epicentre at 7 kilometres north of the city's centre.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed between 15 and 20 April 2020, resulting in 195 collected URLs, totalling 231 GB of data.

From 14 to 16 May 2014, large parts of eastern Croatia were struck by severe floods, inundating the Sava River Basin at the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia all the way through Serbia up to the mouth of the Danube River in Belgrade, Serbia's capital. The parts of Croatia that were worst hit were those around Županja and Slavonski Brod. Several thousand inhabitants had to be evacuated from the flooded region, which the Government of the Republic of Croatia proclaimed the disaster area.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 16 and 17 January 2016, resulting in 104 collected URLs.

The Republic of Croatia joined the European Union as its 28th member state on 1 July 2013.

The collection includes all publicly available Croatia's EU accession-related online content, as well as news sites, the web portals of Croatian cities’ administration and the accession-related local news media content.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 16 and 17 July 2013, resulting in 116 collected URLs, totalling 32 GB of data.

The collection includes all publicly available content on the national referendum on the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, held on 22 January 2012, as well as online features published on various domains and web pages related to this important event.

Resources in the collection were harvested as part of a crawl performed on 16 October 2012, resulting in 476 collected URLs, totalling 929 MB of data.