The Baška Tablet (Bašćanska Ploča) is an 11th century stone artifact of eminent importance in the history of the Croatian language as it carries the oldest preserved text in Croatian and is written in the old Croatian Glagolitic alphabet.

The tablet is rectangular, measuring 2m x 1m, and weighs a massive 800 kg. It was discovered in the floor of the early Romanesque church of St. Lucy (Sv. Lucija) near Baška on the island of Krk in 1851, but its inscription was not fully understood until 1875. The first few lines read (in rough translation):

I, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I,
abbot Drzhiha, wrote this about the plot of land which
was given by Zvonimir, the Croatian King, in
his days to Sv. Lucija ...

Interestingly, the study of this relic was forbidden in Croatian schools up until 1971 by the Socialist Yugoslav regime (1945-1990), as the text confirms the existence and the extent of the Croatian kingdom a thousand years ago, which leads to an amusing anecdote:

"When Britain's Prince Philip paid a visit to Zagreb in the 1970s, he was invited to see the Gallery of the Yugoslav (now Croatian) Academy of Sciences and Arts. According to protocol, the visit was to last no more than 15 minutes. While leaving the main entrance hall, Prince Phillip (about 2m tall), surrounded by many people, accidentally turned his head and noticed the huge Baška Tablet (800 kg) exhibited in the Academy as one of the most important Croatian cultural monuments. The Prince, led by Academician Grga Novak, and accompanied by a long cortege of diplomats and representatives of Yugoslav culture and politics of the day, approached this innocent monument and asked: "What is this?" By the time scholars finally satisfied His Royal Highness' famous curiosity, protocol was in complete havoc."

- Academician Petar Strčić, witness to this event and director of the Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

(Source: http://www.hr/darko/etf/filip.html)

Large images of the tablet, both actual and electronically enhanced, can be seen at the following URL:

http://www.hr/darko/etf/baska.html

It is permanently on public display in the main building of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb.