One of the leading Zagreb museums is celebrating the one-hundred and seventieth anniversary of Hermann Bollé (1845-1926), one of the architects who left a strong mark on the Croatian capital in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century. At least two dozen major buildings are associated with his name. In addition, there are nearly as many major buildings of his across the country. Born in Cologne to a German mother and a French father, he came to the city at the time when it was booming under the Austro-Hungarian empire. In particular, his arrival was a year before the earthquake of 1880, which ended up by devastating quite a bit of the rapidly growing city. Everything that is worth seeing in Zagreb at present was built after the earthquake. Now, the Croatian media are marking the anniversary by referring to Bollé as a Croatian architect. Alas, petty nationalism rarely reaches such glorious heights! If you do not have any architects worthy of that name, make them at your will, and few will complain.