This article covers the historical links between India and Croatia, the teaching of Indology, Hindi and Sanskrit in Zagreb, the cultural agreements and exchange programmes, Indian performances and festivals in Croatia, Yoga, visitors under ICCR programmes, university partnerships, tourism, sport and the Indian community, drawing on the MEA brief of March 2026 on India-Croatia relations.

According to the MEA brief of March 2026, India has been known in Croatia for centuries, and the earliest Croatian visitors to India were missionaries. Links have been found between the Principality of Dubrovnik and Goa, and the Church of Sao Braz in Goa was reportedly built by Croatians around 1563.

Ivan Filip Vezdin, a Croat, is credited with publishing the first printed Sanskrit grammar in 1790. A plaque to commemorate him was unveiled in Trivandrum in 1999.

Indology, Hindi and Sanskrit in Zagreb

A Department of Indology has been functioning at the University of Zagreb for more than 60 years. In response to demand for Hindi, ICCR set up a Hindi Chair at the Department in 2009 under an MoU with the University. The MoU was renewed during the President's State Visit to Croatia in 2019, and renewed again during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on 18 June 2025 for the period 2025-2030.

An MoU for the establishment of an ICCR Sanskrit Chair was signed between ICCR and the University of Zagreb in 2019, during Rashtrapatiji's visit. The Chair started from the 2022 Fall Semester. At the request of the Croatian side, a proposal to renew the Sanskrit Chair is under consideration by ICCR.

During the celebration of Vishwa Hindi Diwas 2024 at the Department of Indology, a Hindi poetry book, 'Bharat', was released on 20 March 2024. It presents 30 poems translated into Hindi from the Croatian poetry book "Slon Siroče", written by Drago Štambuk, the first Ambassador of Croatia to India.

Cultural and educational agreements

The brief lists these agreements and programmes in the fields of culture, education, media and the arts:

  • Agreement on Cooperation in Culture, Science & Technology, Education and Sports (1999)
  • Educational Exchange Programme (2006), renewable every five years
  • Agreement on Cooperation between Doordarshan and Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) (2010)
  • MoU on tourism cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism of India and the Ministry of Tourism of Croatia (2019)
  • MoU on sports cooperation between the Sports Authority of India and the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb (2019)
  • MoU between Lalit Kala Akademi and the Academy of Fine Arts for the five-year period 2023-28

A Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) for 2005-07 was signed in 2005 and has been followed by renewals. A CEP for 2019-22 was signed during the October 2018 visit to India of Ms. Marija Pejcinovic Buric, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. It was renewed in December 2023 up to March 2025, and renewed again during Prime Minister Modi's visit in June 2025. The brief's list of agreements gives the new period as 2026-2030, and its culture section says the renewal runs up to December 2030.

ICCR visits, performances and festivals

The President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, visited Dubrovnik on 14-15 August 2023. He delivered a keynote address at the ICCR-supported 10th Dubrovnik International Conference on Sanskrit Epics and Puranas (DICSEP) at the Inter University Centre Dubrovnik on 15 August 2023. The event marked the 76th anniversary of India's Independence Day and was the final event of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in Croatia. Earlier, the Director General of ICCR visited Croatia from 25-27 October 2021 and met Mrs. Nina Obuljen Koržinek, Minister of Culture of Croatia.

The brief lists these ICCR-sponsored and other performances in Croatia:

  • In February 2020, a 10-member Kalaripayattu martial dance troupe from Kerala performed at the Rijeka Carnival and in Zagreb.
  • In February 2024, an 8-member Bhangra Folk Dance Group took part in the 41st International Carnival Parade in Rijeka, attended by over 10,000 persons, and also performed in Zagreb and Bjelovar.
  • In July 2024, the 8-member Ramayana Theater Group - Roopvani gave three performances: in Novigrad at the "Indian Summer in Istria" festival on 2 July, at the 64th Annual Sibenik Children's Festival, and in Karlovac.
  • In August 2025, a 6-member Kathak group took part in the International Folklore Festival Split and the Spancirfest Festival Varazdin, giving 10 performances in Split, Maria Bistrica, Ludbreg, Varazdin and Osijek.

A year-long festival, "India: Indus Valley and Beyond", showing Indian civilisation through lectures, workshops, travelogues and exhibitions, opened at the Archaeological Museum of Zagreb, in partnership with the Mission, on 2 March 2020. Since 2016, an annual Ratha Yatra has been held in downtown Zagreb, following the tradition of Odisha.

A bust of Mahatma Gandhi, donated by ICCR during Rashtrapatiji's visit in March 2019, was unveiled by the Croatian Prime Minister and the Mayor of Zagreb at Bundek Park in Zagreb on 2 October 2019 to mark Gandhi@150.

Yoga

The brief notes widespread interest in Yoga and Ayurveda in Croatia. Several India-oriented cultural societies, made up mostly of Croatian nationals, are active, such as Yoga in Daily Life, Art of Living, ISKCON, Bhakti Marga and the Vedic Centre.

The Mission has organised the International Day of Yoga since its inception in 2015. For IDY-2025, a total of 52 yoga events were held across Croatia between 1-21 June 2025. For the first time, in partnership with the City of Zagreb, free yoga sessions were offered in Jarun park every Tuesday and Thursday.

Visitors under ICCR programmes

Ms. Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, former President of Croatia, visited India in March 2023 under ICCR's Distinguished Visitors Programme (DVP). She visited Delhi, Hyderabad, Udaipur and Agra and gave public addresses in three of those cities. Mr. Marko Filipović, Mayor of Rijeka, and Mr. Domagoj Hajdukovic, Member of Parliament, visited India in April 2023 under ICCR's Gen Next Democracy Network Programme.

In December 2025, Member of Parliament Mr. Zvonimir Troskot of the party MOST visited New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kochi under the DVP. He gave a lecture at JNU on "India-Croatia/ India EU Partnership" and met representatives of FICCI, CII, GAIL, Gateway House, the Nita Ambani Cultural Centre, a Tata Power facility, IIM Bangalore, ISRO and IISc.

Students and university partnerships

A number of Croatian students have learnt forms of Indian classical dance in India, under ICCR scholarships and on a self-financing basis. To strengthen academic links, the brief lists these new university partnerships:

  • University of Zagreb Faculty of Electronics & Computers (FER) with IIT Gandhinagar
  • University of Zagreb Faculty of Economics & Business (FEB) with IIM Lucknow
  • University of Osijek Faculty of Electronics & IT (FERIT) with IIT Indore
  • University of Rijeka with Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Bhubaneswar
  • University of Dubrovnik with the National Institute of Oceanography (Goa)
  • University of Varazdin with Sharda University, Noida

Tourism

In December 2025, the Embassy showed Incredible India videos on 22 major screens across Zagreb during the month-long "Zagreb Christmas Market (Advent u Zagreb)". The brief states that the initiative is continuing at Ban Jelačić Square, the most prominent public space in Zagreb, where Prime Minister Modi had coffee with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković during his visit in June 2025.

Sport

The brief calls the appointment of the Croatian footballer Igor Stimac as head coach of the Indian national football team an important milestone. His two-year term started on 15 May 2019 and was extended by one more year. Three Croatian football players have recently been contracted by Indian clubs, and a few Indian male and female players attended a training programme in Croatia in 2022.

Indian community

As on 31 December 2025, the number of Indian nationals in Croatia was 12465, the majority of them Indian migrant workers. Of these, 86 are OCI and 37 hold permanent residence (PR) in Croatia. The brief gives the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia as the source of these figures.