7th Black Queen, Zagreb, Croatia

The Black Queen is the most important annual Croatian modelling show and it is organized by the Association of Croatian Military Miniaturists. It took place on Saturday the 15th of September in the gym of the Elementary School "Gracani" in the northern suburb of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The Black Queen (Croatian: Crna Kraljica) is one of the most famous figures of Croatian mythology. She presumably lived in The Middle Ages, she was allways dressed in black and she was fearsome.

This year's show was organized for the 7th time with participants from Croatia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Serbia and Slovenia. There were 376 models of all genres in competition and 122 models on display with aeronautical section being the strongest. There were 119 competitors in three main categories: juniors, cadets and seniors. The models were divided in 27 main categories and 11 special categories. As you will see the quality of the models was on a very high level. But that's not all.

There was also presentation of medieval Guardians of Zagreb, the Crusader Order of the Knights Hospitaller (Ordo Custodum Zagrabiae), who demonstrated medieval fights and their equipment. In the classrooms there was modelling flea market with vendors from Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia. There were also presentations of modelling clubs, workshop for youngsters organized by SVM, presentation of figure painting techniques and presentation of railway models by Railway Model Club Zagreb.

At the end of the day it was a great show with lots of great models, excellent organization, lots of visitors and friendly atmosphere. This year it was my first but definitely not last. Enjoy...

www.crna-kraljica.com