Museum of Ancient Glass

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15 March, 2010

(Day 2)


This was a very nice new museum. Our museum guide, Anamarija Eterović, was one of the archaeologists who worked on the dig which unearthed these Roman artifacts. It was a huge discovery of glass from the 1-3 centuries - a rare find. The glass is isolated from the human remains and other grave goods which were also found. They were taken away to the capital. But the glass was amazing, I'll never forget it. I had a hard time associating my idea of "first century" with the artistry and delicate craftmanship of these glass items.
So that was a lesson learned. Don't make assumptions about history, knowledge, and ability.
Again, I thought it was wonderful to devote a museum to this collection. It is a unique link to direct local history. But I wonder about the connection to today. Do people from Zadar consider this their heritage? In this case, maybe it is. What about other Croatians?

After we returned home, I went back to read Nelson Graburn's chapter (3), "Learning to Consume: What is Heritage and When is it Traditional".  It was very germane, but didn't exactly answer my questions.

The visit to Preko later that afternoon was enjoyable. The ferry ride reminded me of Seattle. Strolling around the rural town was a nice way to see a sliver of real life. Later went to see the Greeting to the Sun light up at night.

http://www.mas-zadar.hr/Home.html
 

Zadar Old Town Tour

[Footbridge across Jazine Bay leads to a gate in the ancient wall surrounding Zadar's Old Town]

15 March, 2010

(Day 2)

We make our way by city bus to this same spot each morning for our day's events to unfold. Today is our first official day in Zadar - the town we will be focusing on in the service learning component of our course. We begin with a city tour by Mladen Masar. He is a senior librarian at the Zadar City Library.
We spend about an hour and a half walking around and hearing about the history of the area, the city, the buildings we're seeing and the roads we're walking on. This little part of Zadar is a peninsula between Jazine Bay and the Adriatic Sea. It was founded by the Romans in the 5th century and survived many trials over its long history. We learn that 60% of this Old Town was destroyed by Allied bombing in WWII, so we are lucky to see what remains.
There was a lot of information in the who-did-what-to-whom vein. Hard to keep it straight. But then I get even more confused.
This town's history is not really "Croatian" is it? It was founded hundreds of years before Slavs even moved into Croatia. And who knows how long before they made it all the way to the coast? And then, Venice controlled Zadar..for 400 years! How many generations of people is that? I kept wondering what language they spoke during all of these time periods.
The Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun were wonderful in their own right, but they also created a balance between old and new. They were signs of culture and memory for today's Zadar.