Few nations have defined a unique world of letters, few worlds of letters have defined a nation. A nation and its letters, the letters and the nation, bound by a thread called millennium.

The letters tell the nation and all that it is – the chant, the dance, the words, the joys, the faith. The nation lives the letters – singing, dancing, speaking, rejoicing, believing. Croats and Glagolitic, Glagolitic and Croats – bound to each other in the same times, coexisting in the same space.

Guarding our identity, we wrote in Glagolitic. It kept alive our language and songs, our customs and faith. It kept us together when others were pulling us apart and reminded us of who we are when we were threatened by oblivion.

Guarding Glagolitic, we have written down our identity. A unique world of ancient letters from a small south-east corner of grand Europe has survived owing to one people – Croats. They kept breathing life into it, giving it its distinct form. They used it to write history, they wrote themselves with it. They keep doing it today, in new ways, keeping abreast of changes in communication, media, art, culture, industry, administration, sport, tourism, education.

Therefore, when we Croats tell the story of Glagolitic, we tell the story of ourselves.

Sandi Antonac
National and University Library in Zagreb