ZAGREB, December 7, 2019 - The Rijeka-based Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral on Friday staged an exhibition about a local luthier, Franjo Kresnik, and the exhibition titled "Violins Beyond Borders/Stradivari in Rijeka - Kresnik and Cremona" is part of the project of Rijeka - the European capital of culture in 2020.
The authors of this exhibition, which will be held throughout 2020, are Tamara Mataija and Tea Perinčić of the Maritime and History Museum and Fausto Cacciatore of the Violin Museum in the Italian city of Cremona.
The exhibition is dedicated to Kresnik, a doctor who was born in Vienna in 1868 and lived in Rijeka until his death in 1943 and who was known for his passion for building violins and other string instruments.
He had a role in reviving the Cremona school of violin making. Kresnik, who craved knowledge about the art of making violins from the era of Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri at the turn of the 18th century, often travelled to Cremona and started building violins following the example of those two Italian luthiers.
Some of the violins made by Kresnik as well as violins built by Stradivari and Guarneri are part of the exhibition. The violins of the Italian luthiers can be seen until 8 March 2020, while the exhibition runs through January 2021.
More Rijeka news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
ZAGREB, September 16, 2019 - The Museum of Apoxyomenos in the town of Mali Lošinj on the northern Croatian island of Lošinj has become a part of the tourist itinerary within the European project called KeyQ+ that promotes points of reference for tourists and general public interested in culture and gastronomy, the local tourist authorities have recently reported.
The official name of the project is "KeyQ+ Culture and Tourism as keys for quality cross-border development of Italy and Croatia", and the tourist board in Mali Lošinj is one of the nine Italian and Croatian partners in the project.
The main results of the project are a gastronomic guide and an itinerary for tourists, as well as workshops for the exchange of experience between workers in the hospitality industry.
The project KeyQ+ is aimed at protecting and preserving historical traditional cuisine and less-known cultural heritage sites, in order to foster the cross-border economy.
"To that scope the project will ensure the definition of innovative tourist itinerary that will be focused on enhancing the local wine-gastronomic attractiveness, and supporting synergies creation among the didactic kitchens, local producers and cultural sites operators," according to the description of the project.
Apoxyomenos Museum in Kvarner Palace in Mali Lošinj opened in 30 April 2016 and Apoxyomenos, which is the ancient 192-centimetre bronze sculpture weighing 300 kilogrammes and the only one of its kind found on the eastern Adriatic coast, is put on display in the reconstructed Kvarner Palace which has been transformed into a museum.
More news about museum in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.
ZAGREB, August 26, 2019 - The exhibition called "Noise Aquarium" about 3D Audio Visual Experience of Plankton in Noise Pollution will open in Pula on 27 August.
The exhibition, to be staged until 22 September in the Pula-based Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria, is part of the aMORE festival.
The exhibition is about bad effects of noise to the living creatures in seas.
"Plankton serve as one of the primary basis of the marine food chain and are as a result a crucial component of the Earth‘s ecosystem. Scientists believe that phytoplankton contribute between 50 to 85 percent of the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere," say the initiators of the exhibition.
"Noise Aquarium utilizes 3D-scans of these micro creatures obtained with unique scientific imaging techniques and immerses the audience in the 3D ‘aquarium’ of diverse planktons projected as large as whales. With their presence alone, participants create destructive visual and audio noises, demonstrating how we are all implicated by our inaction. Noise Aquarium spotlights animated 3D-models obtained with scientific imaging techniques of the extremely diverse plankton spectrum," according to the description of the exhibition.
The exhibition is being staged in cooperation with the Pula museum, local cultural authorities and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Zagreb.
More news about museums in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.
ZAGREB, July 7, 2019 - The Red History Museum, the newest museum in Dubrovnik, has in a short time become an unavoidable cultural place to visit in that southern city, which itself is a museum.
One of Dubrovnik's 19 museums, the Red History Museum was opened in April this year and it features an exhibition that describes everyday life in communist Yugoslavia.
Visitors to the popular international travel website TripAdvisor recommend it as one of the three museums and one of the first ten places in Dubrovnik to visit.
Located in the city's Gruž industrial district, in the inconspicuous basement of the Factory of Carbon Graphite Products, once the city's most successful socialist factory, the museum was established by five young enthusiasts, who financed the project with their own money.
One of them, Krešo Glavinić, said he was happy that in only one month the museum had received as many comments as some museums received in a year.
Two of some 300 items on display are a red Yugo 45 car and a K67 kiosk, which was designed by Slovenian Saša Maechtig and until 1990 was exported to many countries, ending up in the depot of New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
The museum holds about 1,000 Yugoslav-era items that were bought at flea markets or on the internet.
The choice of exhibits, the museum's founders say, was determined in line with work done by prominent researchers of political and cultural history and the history of tourism and everyday life.
"We bought a basketball with Dražen Petrović's signature from a collector in Slovenia and a portable Iskra TV set from a Roma in Pančevo," Glavinić said.
The permanent exhibition has been designed in such a way to show an average socialist apartment.
The exhibits, interactive solutions and extended reality serve to acquaint visitors with socialist urban planning and housing construction, self-government and associated work, economic reforms, women's rights, the 1971 movement calling for greater emancipation of Croatia as a federal republic, as well as with film, media, education, sports etc.
The exhibition also includes items testifying to the politicisation of the youth, youth labour drives, the cult of Tito and the 1980s crisis, which serve as an introduction to the last section of the exhibition, entitled Dealing With Enemies and showing artefacts of secret services and stories about the red era totalitarianism, dissidents and the authorities' attitude to religion.
"While working on the museum's concept, we had in mind people without any experience related to socialism - young people, tourists and students. The purpose of the exhibition is to intrigue them without making any final value judgements," Glavinić said, adding that talks were underway with schools and universities, not only from Dubrovnik or Croatia, on organised visits.
More Dubrovnik news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
Russian diplomats in Zagreb are preparing for the first official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Croatia, which could be organised next year. Putin and Croatian officials would undoubtedly have a number of important topics to discuss: gasification, Agrokor, Russian investments in Croatian companies, hotels, trade exchange, Ukrainian issue etc. But, according to the latest edition of the Express magazine, the question of paintings by Russian artist Nicholas Roerich (born as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh) could also be in focus, reports 24sata.hr on May 17, 2019.
The issue includes the possible return of ten of his valuable paintings that have been held by the Modern Gallery in Zagreb for more than 85 years. Russian Ambassador Azimov has opened the issue of giving these paintings to Russia, the country which Roerich left in 1917 and never came back. Although the paintings are well taken care of by the Modern Gallery, Ambassador Azimov said Russia would ask for them because there “would be more interest for them there.”
Before the return of the works, it is necessary to determine the ownership, which is why the Russian Embassy has opened talks with the Croatian Ministry of Culture. “We have held talks with representatives of the ministry and the museum. They are ready to discuss this issue constructively, but it also raises the question of whether there are any documents that the Russian side can present to prove its ownership of the paintings. We believe that the extensive correspondence between Roerich, his assistants and the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences from the early 1930s exists in the archives in Belgrade,” Azimov told the Russian news agency TASS.
The Culture Ministry also issued a statement. “The handover of paintings between the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and the founder of the Modern Gallery, the Croatian Art Society “Strossmayer”, took place in 1934, and there is an official record. The paintings are protected cultural heritage which has been registered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia. According to the Law on Protection and Conservation of Cultural Goods, their permanent, unlimited removal from Croatia is not allowed,” said the ministry.
Igor Zidić, a renowned art historian and the director of the Modern Gallery from the late 1980s to 2008, agrees with the ministry. “Somebody is obviously questioning the ownership. If the paintings are registered in inventory books, then there can be no doubt. No institution in the country would decide to hand over the paintings. That is how it used to be 45 years ago. For example, Nikita Khrushchev came to Split and received one of Vidović’s oil paintings that was supposed to go to Vidović’s museum. This is no longer permissible,” said Zidić.
Roerich created more than 7,000 works during his career. His works reach a price of several hundred thousand dollars at auctions, while the famous painting “Madonna Laboris” was sold several years ago for nearly 70 million. The value of the collection at the Modern Gallery is estimated at millions of euros.
Translated from 24sata.hr (reported by Antonija Vrčić/Express).
More news about relations between Croatia and Russia can be found in the Politics section.
ZAGREB, April 20, 2019 - After months of preparations, the Red History Museum in the southern Adriatic town of Dubrovnik opened its doors on Saturday.
Located in the Carbon Graphite Products Factory - TUP premises in Gruž, the museum brings some new content about the origins of the socialist idea and how it spread around the globe and to the area of today’s Croatia.
The idea was to create a time capsule for visitors, however, the museum is not only an exhibition space. There will also be movie screenings and lectures to help visitors learn about different versions of Communism.
More news about Croatia during the times of Yugoslavia can be found in the Politics section.
ZAGREB, April 10, 2019 - The prime ministers of Croatia and China, Andrej Plenković and Li Keqiang, on opened an exhibition entitled "Ancient Chinese Scholar-Officials: Painting and Life" at the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery in Zagreb on Wednesday.
The exhibition presenting various aspects of scholars in ancient Chinese society and their lives and art was organised jointly by the Klovićevi Dvori gallery and the National Museum of China.
Prime Minister Plenković underscored that the Croatian-Chinese year of culture and tourism needs to fortify the friendship between the Croatian and Chinese peoples and the cooperation that has exceptional meaning for both countries.
"This exhibition will present works that will show our public the essence of traditional Chinese culture that was created by ancient scholars by depicting their rich lives and spirituality," Plenković said, expressing satisfaction that Croats will be better acquainted with the works and paintings of ancient Chinese scholars.
He underscored that the programme and exchange in tourism and culture that will occur throughout the year originates from the idea of connecting Croatia and China.
Plenković assessed the visit by Prime Minister Li and his delegation as a path to a new partnership and mutual respect which, he said, makes it possible to establish new cultural and tourism routes in order to mutually increase the visibility of the two countries.
The greatest value of the Silk Road, he believes, was the exchange of cultural goods, languages, philosophies, science, and art along with trade that developed from country to country.
He recalled Marco Polo, a Venetian trader and world explorer who originated from the Croatian island of Korčula and opened Europe's path to that new world.
Plenković said that this was a new opportunity for China to become familiar with Croatia's culture and art, and added that last year 250,000 Chinese tourists visited Croatia.
Prime Minister Li thanked his host for the attention he is dedicating to this exhibition. When we look back, we have to mention the Mediterranean civilisation, of which Croatian culture is an important factor, Li said and added that Croatia is a country of a thousand islands. He recalled the Marco Polo, who was born on one of those islands, was the first to connect the civilisations of the East and the West.
As soon as I set foot on Croatian soil, I sensed the charming civilisation with a beautiful nature and the hosts' hospitality, he said.
Dubrovnik, where the Summit of Central and Eastern European Countries and China (16 + 1) is being held tomorrow, is a place that connects culture with the contemporary world, he said and recalled that a British author once wrote: If you are looking for heaven on earth, go to Dubrovnik!
He underscored that Croatian-Chinese cooperation aspires for the true development of the two countries.
Because of the growing number of Chinese tourists visiting Croatia, he announced the possibility of introducing direct flights.
More news about relations between Croatia and China can be found in the Politics section.
ZAGREB, April 6, 2019 - The exhibition about Polish Jews under the title "They Fill No Space: Reviving the Memory of Polish Jews" will be staged outside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb on Saturday within the 13th edition of the Festival of Tolerance that officially starts on Sunday.
The exhibition presents a selection of murals that can be found in public spaces all across Poland that speak about the past of Polish Jews, the festival says on its web site.
The exhibition is prepared in partnership of the Jewish Film Festival Association with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Institute Adam Mickiewicz from Warsaw, Poland and with the support of the Museum of Contemporary Art from Zagreb.
Festival of Tolerance – JFF Zagreb has been developed from the Jewish Film Festival as a unique cultural and educational platform,
"The 13th edition of the Festival will be held from 7 April to 13 April 2019 in the cinemas SC, Kinoteka and Tuškanac, while the ancillary programme will be held from 1 April to 17 April 2019 in public spaces of the City of Zagreb in the form of outdoor exhibitions," according to information on the festival's website.
"Over the past 13 years, the Festival has been fostering critical thinking and the creation of a more tolerant society, in an attempt to open up a dialogue between opposing sides and to contribute to the development of a healthier social environment."
This year, over 70 films will be shown during the event.
Admission is free.
More news about Croatia’s museums can be found in the Lifestyle section.
A combination of architecture, art, robotics and computer programming. That was the installation which until November last year was part of the Croatian pavilion at the 16th Venice Biennale. And now, for the first time in Croatia, it will be presented as part of the 3rd Festival of Light, reports Večernji List on March 17, 2019.
It will be located at the atrium of the Zagreb City Museum. The new installation will be developed by Dean Skira, one of the most prominent Croatian light designers, along with the designers of the original "Pergola Cloud", architects Bruno Juričić and Alisa Andrašek. He will illuminate this piece of art and do the same with the surrounding part of the museum.
This is just one of the twenty locations directly below and on the Upper Town, the historic part of Zagreb, making it an ideal environment for this event. “Pergola Cloud” is a joint collaboration between the Zagreb City Tourist Board and the Ministry of Culture.
Our project focuses on the experience of being under a pergola that allows playing with the environment, mobilising environmental, natural elements, and opening up space for the poetry of living. Pergola is saturated with innovative, computer-generated modules and resembles a three-dimensional lace, said Juričić.
Together with the Ministry of Culture and the City of Zagreb, the Zagreb City Tourist Board is working with many cultural institutions and public and city services to attract more visitors to the festival, which will this year run from 20 to 24 March. The City of Zagreb, HEP, the State Hydrometeorological Service, Croatian Forests, Zrinjevac, ZET, the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, the August Cesarec Centre for Culture and Film, the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery and the Croatian History Institute also help realise the project.
The Archdiocese of Zagreb has allowed the St. Catherine church to be illuminated. The stained glass windows which are usually inside the church will be projected on its front, explained the director of the Zagreb Tourist Board Martina Bienenfeld, adding that they have the great support of the inhabitants of the Upper Town, who contribute with their patience to the successful realisation of the project.
Translated from Večernji List.
More Zagreb news can be found in the dedicated section.
ZAGREB, March 11, 2019 - A series of events dedicated to Lumbarda Psephisma, a stone inscription about the founding of an Ancient Greek settlement on the southern Croatian island of Korčula, will start on 13 March, and includes nine lectures about the archaeological heritage of the municipality of Lumbarda located on the eastern tip of the island.
A hundred and forty years ago, segments of the monument were discovered, which represents the founding document for the establishment of a colony which was set up by the Greeks from the nearby island of Vis, at around the 3rd century BC, the head of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Sanjin Mihelić said on Monday while presenting the findings of the current archaeological activities on Korcula and results of the reconstruction of the monument.
Lumbarda Psephisma is the oldest stone inscription found on Croatian soil. It also contains information about the allotment of land among the then Greek settlers on the island of Korčula.
Next spring, the Zagreb museum will prepare an exhibition about this matter in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and the event has been prepared within the bilateral cooperation between Croatia and Greece.
That exhibition about Lumbarda Psephisma will be the culmination of cultural cooperation during Croatia's chairmanship of the European Union in the first half of 2020.
Greek Ambassador to Croatia, Stavros Tsiepas, congratulated the Zagreb museum's director and the team of archaeologists and researchers engaged in the digs and presentation of the relevant finds.
More news about Korčula can be found in the Lifestyle section.