The Krka National Park celebrates its 35th birthday on the 24th of January

On the occasion of its birthday, the Krka National Park is giving visitors and nature lovers free entrance to the Park from Friday, January 24 to Sunday, January 26, 2020.

 One of the youngest Croatian national parks was proclaimed in 1985 in order to protect the exceptional natural features and rich cultural and historical heritage that are intertwined in its karst features. At thirty-five years old, the Krka National Park is in its best years: sufficiently mature to know what it wants and which way to go, in peak strength and productivity, while still young and full of enthusiasm. In the past thirty some years, the Krka National Park has defined and strengthened its principles, which are based on the protection of nature, sustainable development, and education. It is important for us to preserve this natural harmony for future generations and to develop in accordance with the requirements of modern times and the needs of the ancient river. Education is one of our fundamental tasks, encompassed in every project that we carry out as an institution, with a special emphasis on work with children.

Hence we are honoured by the special birthday gift being prepared by the children of the drama and stage groups of the Smilje and Šibenski tići kindergartens, who in honour of the 35^th birthday of the Krka National Park, on the 23^rd of January 2020 at 5:30 pm in the “Juraj Šižgorić” Municipal Library in Šibenik will perform a puppet show of The Little Guardians of Nature, and present puppets modelled after the characters from the picture book of the same name, which the Krka National Park published last year.

The authors of the text of the picture book are Marija Gundić and Nikolina Lučić, staff of the Krka National Park, while the illustrations were the contributions of Marija Gundić and Zdenka Bilušić, an artist of Šibenik, art teacher, and director of the Centre for Visual Culture of Youth in the “Juraj Šižgorić” Municipal Library in Šibenik. Through the story of Jopa the bat, children are introduced to the various animals that live within the boundaries of the National Park, and through the fellowship of different species that try to solve the problem of threatening pollution, they gain a sense of the importance of that fellowship also among us humans to save what we all have in common, both humans and animals, our planet Earth.

The exhibition of the children’s works can be viewed in the City Library until the end of January.

A big thanks to the children of the Smilje and Šibenski tići kindergartens for sharing with us their love of nature and the Krka National Park, which was placed in the care of all of us 35 years ago!