Challenges of Croatian cultural and public diplomacy in Austria. The anniversary 2018 as a case study

In examining the challenges of cultural and public diplomacy of the Republic of Croatia in the Republic of Austria, the paper presents an overview of the activities of the Croatian Embassy in Vienna in the field of cultural and public diplomacy in 2018, in which Vienna did not mark only the collapse of the Monarchy, but also the centenary of the deaths of several great names, including Gustav Klimt and Otto Wagner. The article also discusses the role of cultural and public diplomacy of small states as well as the context of anniversary 1918 in Austria, but also introduces the distinction of comprehensive public diplomacy, applicable globally (e.g. by creating a national brend on a tie and on the success of the national football team) and specific public diplomacy, adapted to the current moment in a particular cultural circle (Wagner and Klimt as links to Croatia in the Austrian context). The Croatian side contributed to the celebration of the anniversary of the deaths of two artists by participating in the exhibition „Klimt is Not the End“ set up in the gallery of Belvedere and lecturing on Klimt’s paintings Rijeka, but in the first place by the exhibition „Otto Wagner and Croatian Architecture“ in the building of the Croatian Embassy in Vienna, which was designed by Otto Wagner. The anniversary of the collapse of the common state was marked by a scientific gathering entitled „29.10.1918 - a Look Backwards“, organized in cooperation with the Croatian History Institute from Zagreb.