The magazine is seen as the direct descendant of the
Vienac literary magazine, which gathered the best
Croatian writers and poets of the second half of the 19th century. It was created in 1869 to "delight and educate" (
zabavi i pouci). Prominent cultural figures were editors-in-chief. In the first year, the magazine was managed by
Đuro Deželić, then by
Ivan Perkovac,
Milivoj Dežman,
Franjo Marković and
Vjekoslav Klaić.
Vienac soon became the main Croatian literary magazine of the second half of the 19th century, especially when it was managed by the greatest Croatian writer of the time,
August Šenoa, from 1874 until his death in 1881. It is a showcase of the big literary names of the period. For example,
Ksaver Šandor Gjalski published his first short story there in 1884.
Vijenac also published translations of works by
Zola,
Daudet and
Turgenev. From 1890 to 1896, it was edited by
Josip Pasarić, a major critic of Croatian
realism. Both the content and the illustrations were on the level of the contemporary European literary magazines.
Vienac was the only edition of
Matica ilirska (the
Illyrian Matrix) until Matica was restructured in 1874 to become the
Matica hrvatska. After that, Vienac was published by a printing company. It died out in 1903. ==Vijenac today==