September 11, 2018 — The Croatian Museum of Maritime Culture, pushed by famed architect Nikola Bašić, could shine a spotlight on the region's like history of maritime and fishing culture while revitalizing some neglected spaces in Zadar.
Visitors and locals alike often walk Zadar’s smaller ports, charmed at the site of geriatric men mending fishing nets — the few that are left. The mesmerizing sway of their fingers over and through the nets, up and around. Inexpleicable loops.
Some context and history may be on the horizon, as a Croatian Museum of Maritime Culture may become a reality. Local groups key to the museum’s creation have, in principle, agreed to collaborate and help create the museum, according to Zadarski List.
“It’s finally the moment to create a place where Croatian maritime culture will be preserved, studied and promoted,” Nikola Bašić told the paper. The renowned local architect begun promoting the idea in earnest. Such a center — which would systematically evaluate and study the region's maritime heritage — doesn’t exist in Croatia, despite Dalmatia’s centuries-old history as a seafaring culture with a mythic coastline.
The museum would include a component concentrating on local maritime culture, specifically the regional maritime history. There is also an element focusing on fishing culture, as well as mariculture.
The museum will be — appropriately — located on the site of a former Maritime Museum, now the Zadar satellite of the Croatia Academy of Sciences and Arts. It will also include the adjacent Maraska Park, creating a pseudo urban oasis which will shift the cultural heart of Zadar away from its historic peninsula.
Bašić, however, will not be designing the museum.
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the City of Zadar, Zadar County, the University of Zadar will sign a pre-contract, promising to team together to work on the museum.
