Balog Zdenko: Gradovi Jadranske Hrvatske

Dr. sc. Zdenko Balog: Cities of Adriatic Croatia

City style - Traces of the identity of Croatian cities

Photos: Nikola Žulj

The first part of the book is entitled Searching for identity - City of Adriatic Croatia. It provides a short but thorough description and interpretation of the historical circumstances and forces that conditioned and shaped the creation and development of Croatian Adriatic cities. The chapter is divided into sections dedicated to individual periods (the Roman Empire - an ancient city, a city in the middle of East and West - the creation of the Croatian state, the Republic of Venice and the Croatian Adriatic, the transformation of the Adriatic region in modern times), but also the specifics of Adriatic cities (Centrality and ambientity - about the characteristics of Slavonic and Adriatic cities, and the relationship between micro-cities and large cities).

Second part knjige is a kind of encyclopedia of Croatian cities. In alphabetical order, every city, from Bakar to Zadar, has its own list. The entries are composed according to a clear and logical scheme - first mention, geographical location, origin of names, basic moments of historical development or decline, the most significant monuments of architecture and fine arts, ethnographic heritage, etc.

Cities - treasure of identity
The study of cities, and especially historical cities as key elements of the identity of the national space, is unusually important for the preservation of Croatian national culture. Cities and monuments are understood as a treasury of stored meanings, but also as a treasury of traces of identity. The value of the city is in its individual character, and the historical and cultural identity of the cities can be read through the visible symbols in the space.

Representation of monastic heritage
The author's familiarity with monastic heritage is evident, the content is full of statements about church orders, sanctuaries, monasteries, churches, as well as descriptions of church towers, facades, altars, frescoes and pulpits, so this monograph can also serve as a guide to monasticism. of Adriatic Croatia.

Cities of Adriatic Croatia are not only an attractive compendium of scientific knowledge to date, but also a more open text, in which we will find both ancient legends and rarely mentioned details of the modern micro-history of everyday life, and along the way we will get to know a gallery of notable personalities who were born in a particular city. Balog's entries are exhaustive and lexicographical, but the author does not hesitate to surprise us with some commentary written in the modernized spirit of old baedekers and guides, or cultural-historical travel essays.