Who wrote the lyrics of Croatia’s national anthem, “Lijepa naša domovino”?

Antun Mihanović wrote the lyrics of Croatia’s national anthem, “Lijepa naša domovino.”

Mihanović originally wrote the poem in 1835 under the title “Horvatska domovina.” Its words celebrate Croatia’s landscape and national identity, and the poem later became known by its opening phrase, “Lijepa naša,” meaning “Our beautiful.”

Josip Runjanin is traditionally credited with composing the melody, while Vatroslav Lichtenegger prepared a choral arrangement that helped spread the song. Croatia officially recognized the anthem in 1990, as the country moved toward independence and established new state symbols.

The official anthem is not necessarily identical to every performance of the nineteenth-century poem. Selected stanzas are used in the formal version. Mihanović should also be distinguished from later Croatian writers such as Miroslav Krleža, whose major literary works belong to a different period. The anthem’s full title remains “Lijepa naša domovino,” although “Lijepa naša” is a familiar shorthand.