Great Slavist
Why did Vatroslav become the youngest member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts?
In his youth, Vatroslav worked as a high school teacher in Zagreb. Later, he became a university professor in Odessa, Berlin, Petrograd and Vienna.
At only 28 years old, this talented linguist became the youngest member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (now HAZU).
He published many works, some of which are: "Grammar of the Croatian Language" (1864), "Examples of the Old Croatian Language from the Cyrillic Antiquities I-II" (1864 – 1866), "On the History of the Origin of the Church Slavonic Language" (1900). .
Together with Franjo Rački and J. Torbar, he founded the magazine "Književnik", and edited the "Archiv für slavische Philologie". At the University of Vienna, he replaced Fran Miklošić at the chair of Slavic Studies in 1886 and founded the Seminar for Slavic Philology there.
He also studied oral literature and published written monuments of Slavic language culture. He wrote more than 700 scientific papers, was a member of several national Academies, and received several awards for his work!
There is a memorial room in the Varaždin City Museum, and the city park bears his name and a monument. Although he died in Vienna, due to his great love for his homeland, he wanted to be buried in Varaždin in the family tomb.
On his monument, in the hand of a dejected woman who is looking at the grave with crossed arms, a fresh flower is placed every day in memory of the linguist who gave the Croatian language.
