The foundations of the Old Church Slavonic Institute were laid with the founding of the Old Church Slavonic Academy in 1902. In 1928, the Old Church Slavonic Academy was merged with the Croatian Theological Academy in Zagreb as its Old Church Slavonic Department.

Msgr. Dr. Svetozar Ritig (Slavonski Brod, 1873 – Zagreb, 1961) was appointed head of the department. In 1939, Msgr. Ritig stepped down as head and waited for better times. He succeeded in rebuilding the Old Church Slavonic Academy at the Commission for Religious Affairs of the Government of the National Republic of Croatia (NRH), of which he was president.

The Academy was renewed on September 15, 1948 at the Assembly of the Society of Croatian Priests in Rijeka. It was decided that its seat should be in Zagreb.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia entrusted Msgr. Ritigu with the management of the Academy. As President of the Commission for Religious Affairs, Msgr. Ritig suggested to the Prime Minister of the NRH that the name of the Old Church Slavonic Academy be changed to the Old Church Slavonic Institute. On March 18, 1952, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Vladimir Bakarić, signed a decree establishing the Old Church Slavonic Institute with the task of collecting, editing and studying Old Church Slavonic and Old Croatian monuments and other materials necessary for the publication of specialized dictionaries, monographs, anthologies and similar publications, to collect, process, study and publish and, in addition to the specialized library, to establish a photo library in which the photographs of all important Glagolitic monuments and other monuments located in libraries and archives outside Zagreb or abroad woud be collected.

Msgr. Ritig remained director of the Institute until the end of his life. He donated most of his personal library to the Old Slavonic Institute. After his death on July 25, 1961, the name was changed to the Old Church Slavonic Institute »Svetozar Ritig« at the suggestion of the Institute Council.

In 1977, the Old Church Slavonic Institute “Svetozar Ritig” was merged with the Institute of Language and the Institute of Folk Art by a legal decision to form the Institute of Philology and Folklore, which consisted of three institutes: the Institute of Language, the Old Church Slavonic Institute “Svetozar Ritig” and the Institute of Folklore Research.

In 1991, the Institute of Folklore Research fulfilled the legal requirements to obtain the status of an institute and was spun off into the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore. The other two institutes remained as independent scientific units with slightly different names: the Institute for Croatian Language and the Old Church Slavonic Institute in the Institute, which was given a new name: the Croatian Philological Institute.

Epicentar glagoljice

By the decision of the Commercial Court of January 20, 1997, the two institutes of the Croatian Philological Institute were separated.

Names of the Institute from its beginnings until today

  • 1902 – 1928 Old Church Slavonic Academy in Krk
  • 1928 – 1939 Old Church Slavonic Department of the Croatian Theological Academy in Zagreb
  • 1948 – 1952 Old Church Slavonic Academy in Zagreb
  • 1952 – 1961 Old Church Slavonic Institute
  • 1961 – 1977 Old Church Slavonic Institute »Svetozar Ritig«
  • 1977 – 1991 Old Church Slavonic Institute “Svetozar Ritig” of the Institute of Philology and Folklore
  • 1991 – 1997 Old Church Slavonic Institute of the Croatian Philological Institute
  • 1997 – today the Old Church Slavonic Institute

Directors of the
Old Church Slavonic Institute

  • 1952 – 1961  Svetozar Ritig
  • 1961 – 1967  Vjekoslav Štefanić
  • 1967 – 1978  Anica Nazor
  • 1978 – 1986  Biserka Grabar
  • 1986 – 2005  Anica Nazor
  • 2005 – 2017  Marica Čunčić
  • 2017 – today Vida Vukoja