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Noble Castle of Sokolac

The mediaeval noble castle of Sokolac was the most important centre of the powerful Croatian princes of Krk in the region of Lika

The Story of the Dubrovnik Bronze Jacks

These movable bronze sculptures of mythical soldiers struck the hours on the Dubrovnik City Bell Tower, built in 1444-5, for more than four centuries

Tulsamerican, the Legendary WW II Bomber

The aircraft wreck found in the vicinity of the island of Vis is the remains of an American Second World War bomber

Sanctuary of St. Jerome's Church in Štrigova

The conservation of illusionistic wall paintings by John the Baptist Ranger in the sanctuary of the Baroque Pauline Church has been underway since 2000

Conservation of the Dubrovnik’s Titian

The painting 'St Mary Magdalene, St Blaise, the Archangel Raphael with Tobias and the Donator' was painted by Tiziano Vecellio around 1550

“Presentation of Detached Mosaics on Movable Supports”

From 3rd to 6th October 2017, the fourth international expert conference for the protection of mosaic heritage of Southeast Europe will be held in the Croatian Chamber of Commerce – Regional Chamber Pula. The conference is a part of the project Southeast Europe Mosaics. It is financially supported by the Central European Initiative and is organized by the Croatian Conservation Institute in cooperation with the Archaeological Museum of Istria and the Central Institute for Conservation in Belgrade.

Presentation ceremony of the European Union Prize for Cultural heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2017

The Croatian Conservation Institute has the honour of inviting you to the presentation ceremony of the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2017.

EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2017 for St. Martin’s Chapel in Stari Brod and art historian Ferdinand Meder

Brussels / The Hague, 5 April 2017 - The European Commission and Europa Nostra revealed today the winners of the 2017 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, Europe’s top honour in the heritage field. The 29 laureates from 18 countries are being recognised for their notable achievements in conservation, research, dedicated service, and education, training and awareness-raising. Among this year’s winners are two outstanding achievements from Croatia: in the category Conservation, St. Martin’s Chapel in Stari Brod, and in the category Dedicated Service to Heritage, the art historian Ferdinand Meder. Independent expert juries examined a total of 202 applications, submitted by organisations and individuals from 39 countries across Europe, and chose the laureates.

Portal 7/2016

The seventh issue of the journal Portal, the yearly scientific and professional journal of the Croatian Conservation Institute, presents nineteen research and professional papers on various topics in the field of cultural heritage protection. Along with papers, Portal also provides an annual overview of all research programmes and conservation works that the Croatian Conservation Institute performed in the year prior to this issue (2015), in the form of catalogue items on the enclosed DVD.

The wooden chapel of St. Martin in Stari Brod

The wooden chapel of St. Martin in Stari Brod is a rare example of a traditional folk Baroque architecture with a completely preserved painted interior. Throughout the centuries, it had an important role in the everyday life of local villagers, not only as a gathering place for celebrating Mass, but also as an important symbol of centuries of survival despite wars and floods. In spite of the extremely dilapidated and ruinous state and the evacuation of its inventory, it remained opened until 2007, when construction started. The chapel was reopened and re-consecrated in 2015, after conservation and restoration was finished and all its traditional and historic characteristics preserved.

Exhibition ‘Iznik - Ottoman pottery from the depths of the Adriatic’ in Dubrovnik

iznik dum

The Dubrovnik Museums and the Croatian Conservation Institute in cooperation with the Mimara Museum and Yunus Emre Institute, present the exhibition entitled ‘Iznik - Ottoman pottery from the depths of the Adriatic’ that is . The exhibition will be open in Ethnographic Museum, Rupe Granary in Dubrovnik from 15 July until 30 September 2016. It is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.

Europa Nostra

European Commission's Prize for Cultural Heritage, the Europa Nostra Award, is the highest European acknowledgement in the field of cultural heritage. Among this year's laureates are two exceptional achievements from Croatia: St. Martin’s Chapel in Stari Brod in the Conservation category, and art historian Ferdinand Meder, chairman of the Institute's Steering Council, in the Dedicated Service category.

'Portal' Journal

Croatian Conservation Institute's periodical, Portal, is a peer-reviewed academic journal published annually since 2010. Directed at presenting research and professional papers on investigations, treatments, results, theoretical reflections and historical overviews, Portal is open to all those who wish to contribute, professionally and scholarly, to the reflection and promotion of art conservation and restoration. Owing to its comprehensive abstracts in English, the basic content of each paper is also available to international experts.

International projects

EwaGlos – European Illustrated Glossary for Conservation Terms of Wall Painting and Architectonic Surfaces

EwaGlos (European Illustrated Glossary for Conservation Terms of Wall Painting and Architectonic Surfaces) is the title of the international project which has for a goal the development of multilingual illustrated dictionary for conservation terms of wall painting and architectonic surfaces. Several chapters of the dictionary will cover the basic terminology from this field: materials, artists and techniques, state of monuments, phenomena of its aging and deterioration and methods of the conservation and restoration. With the adequate structure of its content and the translations of high quality the intention is that everybody can use this dictionary. The experts and the institutions from seven different countries are participating in the project. One of the partners is the Croatian Conservation Institute, represented by Ivan Srša, consultant conservator-restorer in the Department for Wall Paintings and Mosaics.

The Claustra Project – “Stone Barriers of the Roman Empire” Approved by the IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Slovenia-Croatia

Out of 228 project proposals submitted 39 were approved, among them a project in which the Croatian Conservation Institute is taking part. The project led by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia is aimed at revitalizing the historical Claustra Alpium Iuliarum Roman limes in the territories of Croatia and Slovenia and is due to last 15 months. The signing of the contract is scheduled for March 2014 and the complete value of the project amounts to 604.200 €.

Selected Topics

Portal 7/2016

Secrets of Colours. A 15th-Century Handbook on the Preparation of Paints

Segreti per colori [Secrets of colours] is a collection of recipes for the preparation of paints, translated into Croatian for the first time in this Croatian Conservation Institute’s edition. The text, also known as the Bologna Manuscript, is a valuable source of insight into the technology of paint manufacture in the late Middle Ages.

Iznik – Ottoman Pottery from the Depths of the Adriatic

The bilingual catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at the Mimara Museum (May 18th – Sep 13th, 2015) and the Ethnographic Museum in Dubrovnik (Jul 15th – Sep 30th, 2016). The exhibition raised much interest among both the general and international professional public, presenting valuable archaeological material from a merchant ship that sank in the late 16th century in the Sveti Pavao shallows, off the island of Mljet.

The Renovation of St. James's Cathedral in Šibenik

Croatian Conservation Institute began in 2012 with the documenting, investigating and conservation trials on the stone sculpture in the interior of the presbytery and the main apse of St. James’s Cathedral in Šibenik. A major architectural achievement of the 15th and 16th century in Croatia, the Cathedral of Šibenik has won its global recognition in 2000, when it was entered in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Church of St. Mark in Zagreb: architecture, history, conservation

The collection of six papers on the history of St. Mark’s Church was published to mark the completion of its year-long renovation. Croatian Conservation Institute, which supervised the larger part of the renovation, initiated the monograph, aiming to compile all existing insights into the construction history of the church, which revealed it to be a particularly multi-layered monument.