BUENOS AIRES

 

The largest number of Argentinean Croats lives in Buenos Aires, where they are well organized through the church and Croatian societies, and where they can nurture their folklore and klapa (band) singing. News of them is available to the rest of the world through the Studia Croatica publication, whose chief editor is Joza Vrljičak. They also have radio programs, which still use Croatian in their broadcasts, which cannot be said of the rest of the country.

There is a Croatian square in Buenos Aires, known as the Plaza Republica de Croacia, where Croatians gather for various occasions, and Croatia’s Independence Day in particular. There is a tablet on the square that reads:

 

REPUBLICI HRVATSKOJ U ZNAK SJEĆANJA

GRAD BUENOS AIRES 1997

(TO THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA IN MEMORIAM

CITY OF BUENOS AIRES 1997)

 

BA Plaza Croacia

 

There is a replica of the stone baptistery of prince Višeslav, the most important Croatian monument of the middle-ages. It is a favorite motif of immigrants all over the world, as it symbolically represents the identity of Croatia.

 

krstionica

 

 

Branka

Branka Bezić Filipović at the Croatian Square in Buenos Aires