Croatia, formerly a republic in Yugoslavia, is now an independent country that was formed in 1991. Croatia declared its intention to leave the Yugoslavia federation in 1990 and did so by the end of 1991 (however armed conflicts did not end in some areas until some time in 1995). The culture of Croatia is rich and complex with connections to Slavonic, Austrian, Hungarian, and Italian folk cultures and their architectural expressions as well as other older cultures that lived along the Adriatic coast.

The country has three pronounced landscapes (the rocky Adriatic coast, the Pannonian Plain, and the mountains of the Dinaric Alps) that are important factors in the development of the numerous types of vernacular architecture still found.