HERE / THERE

Only seekers discover truth, treasure, themselves, and worlds.

Andro Vid Mihičić, art historian and poet

Leaving the security of one’s own home has always been a challenge. Human existence is in constant correlation with living space, the intimate / private as well as the public / external. Such imaginary frameworks help us become aware of these boundaries, to overcome them more easily, to know our role and position more clearly, and to ultimately overcome our fear of the unknown: dark mountains, deep and restless seas, wild rivers and abysses, unknown people. Overcoming these boundaries – going into the unknown – enriches a person´s life, opens new horizons, contributes to new experiences and discoveries, and materializes our need to master spatial and temporal boundaries.

The first and last boundary

Death is not the opposite of life, but an innate part of it.

Haruki Murakami, writer

The frames of the cradle are the first “boundaries” in a person’s life. The cradle simultaneously restricts and protects. With many boundaries that a person encounters in life – those that he imposes on himself or that are imposed on him, necessary and unnecessary, good and bad – the final boundary of existence that they cross is death, and the final “home” of their body is the grave. It is impossible to know death as the final boundary, so belief that human existence still continues is woven into human nature. Over the centuries, in various belief systems and religions, people were subjected to numerous rites to cross into the afterlife with the firm conviction that their story shall continue.

Crib, first half of the 20th century

Photograph from archaeological research site, Tribalj – Saint Mary (Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral Archives, Rijeka)

Pair of earrings, Tribalj – Saint Mary, 12th – 13th century

Silver Drachma of the Roman Republic depicting the god Janus, Campania, (Italy), between 216 – 211 B.C.

In the Roman Pantheon, Janus was the god of beginnings, transience, change, time and extremes. The month of January, which marks the beginning of the year, bears his name. He is depicted on the coins of the Roman Republic as a figure with two faces looking in opposite directions, towards the past and the future. The Romans believed that he resided in passages between spaces, in house or city gates, and on borders.

My home

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.

Robert Frost, poet

The boundary of the home, of our “four walls”, should constitute our safe zone. Open doors invite, closed doors protect our privacy. The key to control is in our hands. By crossing the doorstep, we either enter someone’s intimate sphere or leave it. We cross the boundary between the private and the public.

It is a fact that has accompanied human development from prehistory to the present day – from the simplest, natural shelters such as caves, where man took refuge to protect himself from weather conditions and possible dangers, all the way to today’s architecture which, often enriched with modern surveillance measures, emphasizes this basic human drive for protection and security. It is a constant that does not depend on the typology of architecture, its design and dating. Instead, it is a reflection of man’s need to provide for himself and members of his community.

First floor ground plans of two municipal houses in Kastav, Volosko, 3 May 1851

“On the subject of attack and assault, and insult done in one′s own residence or on one′s own territory – It has been determined that anyone who attacks any citizen, resident or a district inhabitants of the City of Rijeka with a weapon in the house of one's own residence or on a territory, either one's own or leased, shall be fined with 25 libars. And if the attacked person legally defends themselves in a permissible manner in order to protect themselves, and kills the attacker, the person will not be punished.” (Statute of the City of Rijeka, 1530, p. 259)

House threshold, stone, a block with Glagolitic letters ČHŽ Kastav, 1607

Keys, 19th – 20th century

Padlock from the Rijeka citygates 17th century

Boundaries in space

A boundary shows me where I end and someone else begins, leading me to a sense of ownership. Knowing what I am to own and take responsibility for gives me freedom.

Henry Cloud, psychologist

A person, following the natural shape of the terrain, builds boundaries and dams to mark their territory, protect fertile soil, or restrict the movement of their animals. Hills, ditches, high cliffs, rivers, and seashores are natural spatial boundaries that man can master. These are also natural boundaries in space that are, where necessary, interconnected by boundaries built by human hands – walls and fences.

The Castle of Rijeka, (copy) Pieroni, Ljubljana, 1639

Rijeka – Sušak, Carta postale “Paget”, around 1925

Photograph of the remains of the Kastav walls – Žudika, Edmund Jelussich, Kastav, end of the 19th century

Mali Lošinj, G. P. Budua, Mali Lošinj, around 1910

Struggling to find fertile soil, man cleared rocky ground, thus forming arable plots. He laid the remaining stone without binders, creating the borders between plots on which he grew olives, vines, and other Mediterranean cultures. The purpose of such dry-stone walls, gromača, was manifold: in addition to parcelization, they protected the precious humus from being washed away by rain and prevented animals from entering the plot. Man's intervention here is reduced to a minimum, yet still strongly present.

Bakar, M. Burian, Bakar, around 1930

Baška on the island of Krk, S. Riemer, Sušak, 1925

Mali Lošinj, O. Achtschin, Split, around 1910

Fallen soldiers' cemetery surrounded by barbed wire, World War I, Vojvodina

From the known into the unknown

There are no foreign lands. It is the traveller only who is foreign.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Fear of the unknown can be overcome by a desire to learn and control new spaces, which brings us out of our comfort zone. An example of this would be various expeditions – journeys on which new spaces and new people are explored.

After thousands of years of focusing on the Mediterranean, starting from the 15th century onwards, sailing routes of Europeans became oceans. Intensive research expeditions to the New World began: America, the Far East and Australia. In addition to the primary purpose – spread of political power and culture – many scientific expeditions were undertaken as well.

View of Rijeka from Banska vrata, Christian von Maÿr, Rijeka, 1832

”As we began to descend, we were startled by a sudden shout from Mikloš: ”The great water! The great water!” We jumped to our feet, discovering that in front of us lay the Adriatic decorated with beautiful islands and spotted with fishing boats. A few moments after the first shout, Mikloš was utterly quiet from awe and amazement. At last he said: ”Your Grace, this must be the Danube again. There is no other water so great. Look, even the wild ducks swim all around it!“ He couldn't believe, not even after we told him, that what he was seeing was the sea and that what he considered to be ducks are actually large ships that only seemed small because of the distance.” John Paget, Hungary and Transylvania, London 1839. (Svein Mønnesland: Istria and Kvarner through foreign eyes, 2019, p. 36)

Different types of landscapes, E. Hozel, Vienna, beginning of the 20th century

Maritime Atlas, Atlas Maritime, Chez Yves, 1802

“The stronghold of a wise and noble princess was attacked by her enemies. The princess could not gather together her large and faithful army quickly enough to defend her castle, but had to fly by night with her little prince in her arms. So she fled all through the night, and ar day-break they reached the foot of grisly Mont Kitesh, which was on the border of the principality. At that time there were no more dragons anywhere in the world, nor fairies, nor witches, nor any monsters. The Holy Cross and human reason had driven them forth. But in the fastnesses of Mount Kitesh the last of the Fiery Dragons had found a refuge, and seven otaress Faires sattneded upon him. That is why Mount Kitesh was so grisly.“ (Ivana Brlić Mažuranić: Little Brother Primrose and Sister Lavander, Croatian Tales of Long Ago)

Globe, Johann Georg Klinger, 1800

Polo Artico, Enrico de Littrow, Fiume-Rijeka, 1872

From the middle of the 18th century, the Habsburg Monarchy began investing in shipbuilding and the training of seafarers. Splendido, a sailing ship from Rijeka, completed its first circumnavigation in the 1850s, after which the most significant voyage was the first Austro-Hungarian polar expedition in 1872, on the Admiral Tegetthoff, with 13 Croatian crew members mostly from Primorje and Kvarner.

Captain Ivo Visin, Kotor, first half of the 20th century

Novara ship travel map, Maximilian Muller, Vienna, middle of the 19th century

The first serially produced diving mask in Croatia, "Sport Servis" Sušak, 1947

The first serially produced diving fins in Croatia, "Sport Servis" Sušak, 1947

Underwater housing for "Robot" photo camera, self-construction by Anton Kalokira & Josip Medur, Rijeka, 1949

People have always dived underwater to discover the secrets hidden beneath the sea surface, a kind of boundary between the accessible terrestrial world and often inaccessible and unknown underwater world. Diving on the Adriatic has always been part of the traditional economy (sponge harvesters, coral divers, builders, fishermen), and the tradition of technical diving in Rijeka was developed by following the needs of the city's industry. After the Second World War, the "Sport Servis" Sušak workshop began producing the first serial production of diving and spearfishing gear. The first training centre for civilian divers in Croatia was opened in Kostrena. The first underwater cameramen in Croatia also worked on Kvarner – their pictures introduced us to the beauty of the Adriatic seabed, previously unknown to many.

Underwater archaeological research by the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka, second half of the 20th century, archive records by the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka

Boy on a bicycle ready to go, Marianne Strobl, Vienna, around 1890

Hiking pole – cepin, beginning of the 20th century

Why do we travel? Since the dawn of the time, discovering new places has been in the human nature. In the beginning the human was a pedestrian, then a horseman, and the industrial age then brought new benefits, new means of transportation, easier, faster, more interesting travel. Borders, be they local, provincial or national, or even of one's own continent, are not obstacles. Ports – sea, river, and also symbolic – exist as components of cities on the sea or river. After long journeys, being away from their own home, people desire to return to the comfort of their port.