Božo Biškupić


Božo Biškupić is a Croatian politician and lawyer. He served as Minister of Culture of Croatia in the governments of three Croatian Prime Ministers: Zlatko Mateša, Ivo Sanader and Jadranka Kosor. Therefore his two non-consecutive ministerial terms amount to a total of 11 years and 87 days, the longest tenure of any minister in a Croatian Government since independence in 1991.

Overview

Biškupić graduated from the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Law, and later earned a master's degree in museology at postgraduate studies of librarian, documentation and information sciences at University of Zagreb's Faculty of Philosophy. From 1974 to 1980 he worked at a law firm based in Zagreb, and he is also notable for editing publications on visual arts published by the National and University Library.
In 1990 Biškupić joined the Croatian Democratic Union party and in 1992 was appointed assistant to the Minister of Culture. From 1993 to 1995 he served as Deputy Mayor of Zagreb. From November 1995 to January 2000 he served his first term as Minister of Culture, under Prime Minister Zlatko Mateša. After his term ended he ran in the parliamentary elections and was elected to the Croatian parliament three times at the 2000, 2003 and 2007 elections. He was appointed Minister of Culture again in December 2003, under Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, and was confirmed to serve a second term in January 2008 after HDZ won the 2007 elections again.

Personal life

Biškupić is married and has a daughter. He speaks English and German and his hobbies include chess and music.