The Coordination of Associations for the Preservation and Revitalization of Maritime and Shipbuilding Heritage of Northern Dalmatia is an initiative that brings together the following organizations from the Šibenik-Knin and Zadar counties: Ecological Association Šepurine (Prvić Šepurine), Association Južnje strane (Jezera), St. Andrew’s Association (Tisno), Betina Gajeta 1740 Association (Betina), Latin Sail Association (Murter), Frkata Association (Ugrinić), and Kanata Association (Zadar). These associations are the organizers of events and regattas held with the aim of preserving traditional sailing and shipbuilding skills: Burtiž (Prvić Šepurine), Lantina (Jezera), Idrom po korentu (Tisno), Regatta for the Soul and Body (Betina), Days of the Latin Sail (Murter), Đir po konalu (Ugrinić), and Zadar na idra (Zadar). Representatives of these associations, along with the participation of the director of the…
Archives
We collect hammers
Do you know Matea Šabić Sabljić? No? We’ll tell you something about her as much as we can. Well, Matea is an artist, in a word. But she’s also a researcher, a seeker of stories in art and culture, maritime activities, shipbuilding, a creator of multimedia urban installations in space… What fascinated us is that Matea, among other things, is a boat builder. You read that correctly. In her studio in Zagreb, besides engaging in visual arts, which she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, she builds boats. Real, navigable boats, or as she calls them, “utopian” boats.The idea was conceived a long time ago and is present in her personal and professional engagement, learning and exploring the maritime world. Her research,…
Exhibition: “Modrave on Old Maps”
This Saturday, September 23rd, at 7:30 PM, we are opening the exhibition “Modrave on Old Maps” by author Kristijan Juran. The exhibition is the result of research from the scientific project “Modrave – Cultural Landscape in Historical Perspective,” organized by the University of Zadar since 2021. The project is dedicated to researching the dynamics of agricultural use and cultural shaping of Modrave from the 15th to the 19th century. To implement the project, topographic maps and cadastral maps of the Modrava area from the 18th and 19th centuries were digitized, stored in the State Archives in Zadar and the State Archives in Split. The exhibition opening will be preceded by a lecture presenting the project, which will take place at the Presentation Center in Betina…
Exhibition opening: Shipbuilders’ Wives
In the upcoming days of the Betina shipyard, on August 14th, we will open our exhibition “Shipbuilders’ Wives”. This exhibition emphasizes the role of women in shipbuilding during the second half of the 20th century – a period of the greatest social changes in Betina on the island of Murter. The exhibition highlights the involvement of women in shipbuilding, and their stories form the foundation of the entire exhibition concept. Women have always played a secondary role in shipbuilding. Their names were never recorded. Nevertheless, a woman’s touch could always be felt at the shipyard. The stories of the women from Betina’s 20th-century shipbuilding community reveal the other side of shipbuilding – the one hidden behind launched ships, bent timbers, and hammered nails. These stories…
Maritime Heritage of Preko
On Sunday, July 2nd, we opened the exhibition “Maritime Heritage of Preko” in Preko on the island of Ugljan. The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Tourist Board of Preko, the Municipality of Preko, and the Public Open University “Dom na žalu”. The exhibition provides insight into the historical, geographical, and social circumstances that made Preko a starting point for numerous generations of labourers who would daily depart for their overseas estates. The Preko estate was extensive, and proportionally, so was the fleet in the Preko harbour. Gajetas, leuti, and kaići were indispensable means of transportation. The Preko residents would use boats daily to reach their fields. They would only use them for fishing incidentally, with the catch being used for their own sustenance….
Modrave – in the Footsteps of Labourers
On Sunday, June 25th, at 8:00 PM, we will open our exhibition “Modrave – In the Footsteps of Labourers”. The exhibition is ethnographic and tells the story of the everyday life of former labourers on their closest overseas property – Modrave, the largest olive grove in the broader area of the island of Murter. The Modrave area is dominated by a network of dry stone walls, piles of cleared stones, and small stone houses called “bunje” which were of immense importance to the local population during harsh weather conditions while working in the fields. The people who shaped the karst landscape for centuries and gradually transformed it into a useful agricultural area gave the greatest significance to this rocky terrain. The exhibition is divided into…
Cultural Heritage
BETINA WOODEN SHIPBUILDING MUSEUM The Museum was opened in 2015 as an expression of the local community’s desire to preserve the heritage of wooden shipbuilding in our area. The museum collection includes items related to shipbuilding, blacksmithing, agriculture, fishing, and everyday life. The exhibition is presented through multimedia content, allowing you to experience a tradition that spans several centuries in a modern way. Since 2018, it has proudly held the Silletto Award for the best European museum in the category of community engagement, as well as the Europa Nostra Award in the category of education, learning, and raising awareness. In 2019, the museum’s scope expanded beyond its walls to include the Betina harbor – an open-air museum where you can see exemplary models of Betina…
The Little Shipbuilder
The story about a little shipbuilder was written by Sandra Barešin, and illustrated by Duška Radečić Petrić. It’s a story about a little boy named Paško, who dreams of becoming a shipbuilder and building his own boat more than anything else in the world. We organized the promotion of the picture book at the Presentation Center Betina, in collaboration with the kindergartens from Betina and Murter, who visited us at the party in honor of our Paško! There were sweets and cheerful music, and all the children knew the answers to the questions – it seems they have already become friends with Paško! The picture book adorns our museum souvenir shop, and you can get it to delight your little ones too!
Betina Wooden Shipbuilding
When the shipbuilder Filipi family came from Korčula in the 18th century to found the first known shipyard in Betina, they had to find ships, boats, and shipbuilders that would build them. Due to the lack of written documentation, it cannot be determined with certainty where the people of Murter and Betina built and ordered their ships before the arrival of the first shipbuilders. There is a possibility that these boats were built on a nearby island or on the mainland. In any case, one can presume that the Betina shipbuilding did not start in the 18th century and that before the now famous Betina gajeta there had to be one universal boat that was used by the people of these two settlements. However, we…