Graffiti, historically, are a significant source of information about people and the time they originated from and have a great cultural significance. In this paper we deal with development of graffiti throughout the history as a form of communication from the times when early man used chalk and charcoal to paint cave walls with motives from everyday life (tribal people, animals, hunting motifs ...) through inscriptions and drawings carved into stone or ceramics in ancient Egypt, Greek and Roman culture, up to modern flow marker and spray-painted names, messages and drawings on New York Metro cars, building walls in Paris, London and Berlin and bridges of Zagreb. The paper encompasses the definition, theory, content, topics, types, styles and techniques of graffiti creation as well as the most important authors of contemporary Croatian and international graffiti scene. Graffiti we encounter today on various public surfaces cover a whole range of works, from scribbles without any sense and meaning, through the humorous and funny inscriptions to the artistic masterpiece that enhance and refine the space in which they are located. Public opinion prevails that graffiti are something that ruin public city surfaces and is often referred to as a vandalism act. However, such opinion has slowly changed in recent time. Many of the graffiti are now viewed as artworks and can be seen in galleries and museums. In this paper we tried to show positive and negative aspects of graffiti, to point to the laws and regulations that ban drawing of graffiti on public surfaces, point to the actions taken by individual cities in solving these problems, and try to answer the eternal question: are graffiti vandalism or art?