Centuries of history and the building of Croatian identity
The history of the Mažuranić family dates back to 1360 in Split, with the first documented mention around 1550, referring to Ivan Mažuranić, whose son lived in Novi Vinodolski. From warriors to farmers and peasants, the Mažuranić family rose to become a distinguished and educated bourgeois family. Through the Mažuranić family, the Croatian identity and modern history were shaped.
In Novi Vinodolski, within the old Mažuranić family, five sons were born to Ivan Mikula Mažuranić Petrov, a literate local elder and people’s judge, and Marija, née Ivić:
Three brothers, Ivan, Antun, and Matija, left a lasting mark on the 19th century through their work and achievements, significantly contributing to Croatian politics, science, culture, and arts. Ivan, in particular, was a poet, a ban, and the creator of modern Croatia.
In Antun Mažuranić Street in Novi Vinodolski, the Mažuranić brothers’ birth house still stands. Today, its courtyard hosts numerous theater performances and an open-air cinema. There is no local in Novi Vinodolski who is not proud of the Mažuranić family. The city’s oldest square is dedicated to Ivan Mažuranić, featuring his statue, and throughout the year, many literary evenings and events are held in honor of this illustrious family.
The linguist, grammarian, and lexicographer Antun Mažuranić was born on June 13, 1805, in Novi Vinodolski. He was a Croatian revivalist, a participant in the national revival, and one of the founders of Matica Ilirska. He laid the foundations of modern Croatian accentology, dialectology, and textology.
He studied in Rijeka and Zagreb, where he completed law and philosophy. Appointed by Ban Jelačić, he served as the Ban’s Commissioner for Vinodol (1848–1850), based in Novi Vinodolski, and from 1861 to 1868, he was the director of the Rijeka Gymnasium.
He edited Danica Ilirska and published school textbooks Temelji ilirskoga i latinskoga jezika za početnike and Slovnica hèrvatska. Together with his brother Ivan, he published a dictionary as part of an edition of Gundulić’s Osman.
However, his most significant work is the critical edition of the Glagolitic Vinodol Code, in which he described the Vinodol Čakavian dialect and laid the foundations for scientific Croatian dialectology. He also published O važnosti akcenta hrvatskoga za historiju Slavjanah, where he provided scientifically based conclusions on the relationship between Čakavian and Štokavian pronunciation, as well as between Čakavian and Russian pronunciation. He was awarded the Russian Order of Saint Vladimir, granting him the right to Russian nobility.
Ivan Mažuranić was born in Novi Vinodolski in 1814. He was a poet, linguist, politician, and great reformer. He is considered one of the most important figures in Croatia in the 19th century.
From 1873 to 1880, he served as the Ban of Croatia, becoming the first commoner Ban (non-noble). His tenure was marked by numerous reforms that improved Croatia’s judiciary, political administration, and education system. These reforms introduced Ban’s accountability (government accountability) to the Sabor, separation of judiciary and administration, judicial independence, modern administrative organization, a more rational judicial system and criminal procedure, freedom of the press, jury trials, the right to public assembly, the law on domicile, electoral liberalization, the establishment of public services (statistics office, public health, agricultural development), and the introduction of compulsory four-year schooling. Ivan Mažuranić was one of the key figures in Croatia’s modernization.
As a writer, he is best known for his historical epic The Death of Smail-aga Čengić (1846), one of the most important works of Croatian literature in the mid-19th century. The epic dramatically depicts contemporary events in neighboring Montenegro and the death of the Herzegovinian tyrant Smail-aga Čengić. The work has had over 150 editions and has been translated into several foreign languages.
Although he was involved in poetry for only a short time, he created verses and expressions that are still quoted today. He left behind a brilliant addition to the 14th and 15th cantos of Gundulić’s Osman in 1844. He is also the author of Croatia’s first political prose work, Hrvati Mađarom.
In 1817, Matija Mažuranić, an entrepreneur, travel writer, and builder, was born in Novi Vinodolski. Matija Mažuranić played a significant role in the development of Novi Vinodolski. From 1856, he served as the mayor or head of the Municipality of Novi, undertaking numerous infrastructure projects, including road and bridge repairs. He built a coastal road from Lukovica to Melo, started the construction of Vela Riva (the port breakwater), and built a bridge over the Ričina River. In 1868, he constructed the Sv. Juraj – Krasno road, and in 1869, he mapped the Rudolfina Road from Pleteni to Ogulin, which he completed between 1870 and 1874. At the mountain pass above Breze, he had the inscription BANSKA VRATA – IZVEO MAŽURANIĆ – 1872 carved into the rock. Although the road was not of major traffic importance, it enabled the exploitation of the Velika Kapela forests.
Matija Mažuranić is also renowned as an exceptional travel writer. In 1842, he wrote Pogled u Bosnu (A View of Bosnia), described by critics as a “gem of Croatian prose.” At the time of its publication, it represented the pinnacle of Croatian literary artistry. Traveling through Bosnia, Mažuranić, with no external influence or literary precedent, as a keen observer of folk traditions, created a work that reads both as an adventure and as a realistic depiction of his experiences and observations. His travelogue intertwines reflections on the relationships between Turks and Bosniaks, Islam and Christianity, as well as deeper philosophical thoughts on life, death, and love.
