The Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography ( or LZMK) is
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
's national
lexicographical institution. Based in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, it was established in 1950 as the national lexicographical institute of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
. It was renamed after its founder, the Croatian writer
Miroslav Krleža, in 1983.
History
The institute was founded in 1950 as the Lexicographical Institute of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (''Leksikografski zavod FNRJ'') and was renamed the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute (''Jugoslavenski leksikografski zavod'', ''JLZ'') in 1962.
The institution was originally established as a federal body under de facto responsibility of the
Federal Executive Council while its “founding rights” were relegated to the
Socialist Republic of Croatia
The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...
in 1970s.
Its longtime director was writer
Miroslav Krleža, with
Mate Ujević as the chief editor.
It was based in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, with branches in
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
and
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. The office in Belgrade was opened in 1981 in the building across the street from the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS).
The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...
to simplify communication with majority of other common federal Yugoslav institutions.
After Krleža's death in 1981, the institute was renamed as the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute "Miroslav Krleža" (''Jugoslavenski leksikografski zavod "Miroslav Krleža"'').
Following the
breakup of Yugoslavia
After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...
, it was renamed to its current name in 1991, becoming the national lexicographical institute of
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, situated in 26
Frankopan Street of Zagreb.
Publications
The institute employs numerous scientists in many areas of expertise and issues general and specific
reference work
A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...
s as well as
map
A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...
s and
travel guides.

Some of the major encyclopedic works completed or started by the institute in its Yugoslav period until 1991 were:
* ''
General Encyclopedia'' (''Opća enciklopedija'') – 1st ed. in 7 volumes (1955–64) as ''Encyclopedia of Lexicographical Institute'' (''Enciklopedija Leksikografskog zavoda''); 2nd ed. in 6 volumes (1966–69); 3rd ed. in 8 volumes (1977–82), supplemental, 9th volume in 1988
* ''
Encyclopedia of Yugoslavia'' (''Enciklopedija Jugoslavije'') – 1st ed. in 8 volumes (1955–71); 2nd ed. with 6 of projected 12 volumes published (1980–90), with additional volumes in Albanian, Macedonian, and Slovene
* ''Encyclopedia of Forestry'' (''Šumarska enciklopedija'') – 1st ed. in 2 volumes (1959–63); 2nd ed. in 3 volumes (1980–87)
* ''Encyclopedia of Music'' (''Muzička enciklopedija'') – 1st ed. in 2 volumes (1958–63); 2nd ed. in 3 volumes (1971–77)
* ''Maritime Encyclopedia'' (''Pomorska enciklopedija'') – 1st ed. in 8 volumes (1954–64);
2nd ed. in 8 volumes (1972–89)
* ''Medical Encyclopedia'' (''Medicinska enciklopedija'') – 1st ed. in 10 volumes (1957–65); 2nd ed. in 8 volumes (1967–86)
* ''Encyclopedia of Fine Arts'' (''Enciklopedija likovnih umjetnosti'') – in 4 volumes (1959–66)
* ''Encyclopedia of Agriculture'' (''Poljoprivredna enciklopedija'') – in 3 volumes (1967–73)
* ''Encyclopedia of
Physical Culture'' (''Enciklopedija fizičke kulture'') – in 2 volumes (1975–77)
* ''Encyclopedia of Yugoslav Fine Arts'' (''Likovna enciklopedija Jugoslavije'') – in 2 volumes (1984–87)
* ''Technical Encyclopedia'' (''Tehnička enciklopedija'') – in 13 volumes (1963–97)
* ''The Film Encyclopedia'' (''Filmska enciklopedija'') – in 2 volumes (1986–90)
The institute also published numerous lexicons such as:
* ''Lexicon JLZ'' (''Leksikon JLZ'') – general lexicon (1974)
* ''Lexicon of Yugoslav Music'' (''Leksikon jugoslavenske muzike'') – in 2 volumes (1984)
* ''Sports Lexicon'' (''Sportski leksikon'') – 1984
* ''Maritime Lexicon'' (''Pomorski leksikon'') – 1990
One publication has spanned both the historical eras of Yugoslavia and Croatia, the ''
Croatian Biographical Lexicon'' (''Hrvatski biografski leksikon'') – which is still a work in progress, with 9 volumes published between 1983 and 2021.
After 1991 the institute published several major works of the national interest for Croatia:
* ''
Croatian Encyclopedia'' (''Hrvatska enciklopedija'') – general and national encyclopedia in 11 volumes (1999–2009)
* ''The
Miroslav Krleža Encyclopedia'' (''Krležijana'') – in 3 volumes (1993)
* ''Encyclopedia of Croatian Art'' (''Enciklopedija hrvatske umjetnosti'') – 1st ed. in 2 volumes (1995–96); 2nd ed. in 8 volumes (2005) as ''Croatian Art Encyclopedia'' (''Hrvatska likovna enciklopedija'')
* ''Dictionary of the Croatian Language'' (''Rječnik hrvatskoga jezika'') – 2000
* ''Atlas of Croatian History'' (''Hrvatski povijesni atlas'') – 1st ed. (2003); 2nd ed. (2018)
* ''Istrian Encyclopedia'' (''Istarska enciklopedija'') – regional encyclopedia of
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
in 1 volume (2005)
* ''Croatian Literary Encyclopedia'' (''Hrvatska književna enciklopedija'') – in 4 volumes (2010–12)
* ''Encyclopedia of
Hrvatsko Zagorje'' (''Enciklopedija Hrvatskog Zagorja'') – regional encyclopedia of
Hrvatsko Zagorje in 1 volume (2017)
It also continued to publish one-volume reference works:
* ''Lexicon of Medicine'' (''Medicinski leksikon'') – 1992
* ''Lexicon of Economy'' (''Ekonomski leksikon'') – 1st ed. (1995); 2nd ed. (2011)
* ''Croatian General Lexicon'' (''Hrvatski opći leksikon'') – 1st ed. (1996); 2nd ed. (2005); 3rd ed. (2012)
* ''General Lexicon of Religion'' (''Opći religijski leksikon'') – 2002
* ''The Film Lexicon'' (''Filmski leksikon'') – 2003
* ''Lexicon of Soccer'' (''Nogometni leksikon'') – 2004
* ''Lexicon of
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
'' (''Zagrebački leksikon'') – in 2 volumes (2006)
* ''Technical Lexicon'' (''Tehnički leksikon'') – 2007
* ''The Law Lexicon'' (''Pravni leksikon'') – 2007
* ''The
Marin Držić Lexicon'' (''Leksikon Marina Držića'') – 2009
* ''Lexicon of Fine Arts'' (''Likovni leksikon'') – 2014
* ''The
Ruđer Bošković Lexicon'' (''Leksikon Ruđera Boškovića'') – 2011
* ''Lexicon of Philosophy'' (''Filozofski leksikon'') – 2012
* ''The
Antun Gustav Matoš Lexicon'' (''Leksikon Antuna Gustava Matoša'') – 2015
* ''Lexicon of
Turopolje'' (''
Turopoljski leksikon'') – regional lexicon of
Turopolje (2021)
Current projects
The institute now runs several major projects related to the
Croatian language
Croatian (; ) is the standard language, standardised Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by Croats. It is the national official language and literary standard of Croatia, o ...
, history and culture. These include:
* online edition of the
Croatian Encyclopedia a
Hrvatska enciklopedija*
Croatian Biographical Lexicon (since 1975)
* Croatian Technical Encyclopedia, wit
the portal of Croatian Technical Heritage
Gallery
File:Opca enciklopedija JLZ.jpg,
File:Atlas svijeta (LZMK).jpg,
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miroslav Krleza Lexicographical Institute
1950 establishments in Yugoslavia
Research institutes established in 1950
Lexicography
Publishing companies of Croatia
Croatian language
Culture of Croatia
Research institutes in Croatia
Companies of Yugoslavia
Culture of Yugoslavia
Companies based in Zagreb