2005

[Editor's note: we do not attest to the accuracy or completeness of these notes which are provided by the Croatian and Slovenian Postal authorities and other independent sources.] 

(ITA) Giorno del ricordo dell'esodo dall'Istria Fiume e Dalmazia

• Data di emissione: 10 febbraio 2005
• Valore: euro 0,45 per ciascun soggetto
• Tiratura: tre millioni e cinquecentomila esemplari per ciascun francobollo
• Bozzettista: Rita Fantini
• Stampa: Officina Carte Valori dell’Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato S.p.A., in rotocalcografia
• Colori: quadricromia
• Carta: fluorescente, non filigranata
• Formato carta: mm 40 x 30
• Formato stampa: mm 36 x 26
• Dentellatura: 13 x 13 ¼
• Foglio: cinquanta esemplari, valore “€ 22,50”

Vignette:

La vignetta raffigura una scena drammatica a rappresentare lo storico esodo degli italiani dall’Istria Fiume e Dalmazia. Completano il francobollo la leggenda “GIORNO DEL RICORDO DELL’ESODO DALL’ISTRIA, FIUME E DALMAZIA”, la scritta “ITALIA” ed il valore “€ 0,45”.

Note: L’Ufficio Filatelico di Roma e gli Sportelli Filatelici delle Filiali di Torino e di Trieste hanno utilizzato sul giorno di emissione il relativo annullo speciale realizzato dalla Divisione Filatelia.

• Data di emissione: 18 marzo 2005
• Valore: euro 0,45 per ciascun soggetto
• Tiratura: quattro millioni e cinquecentomila esemplari for ciascun francobollo
• Bozzettista: Gaetano Ieluzzo ( Lombardia e Campania); Cristina Bruscaglia (Friuli Venezia Giulia); Tiziana Trinca (Calabria)
• Stampa: Officina Carte Valori dell’Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato S.p.A., in rotocalcografia
• Colori: Lombardia e Campania (cinque); Friuli Venezia Giulia e Calabria (quadricromia
• Carta: fluorescente, non filigranata
• Formato carta: mm 40 x 30
• Formato stampa: mm 36 x 26
• Dentellatura: 13 x 13 ¼

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: March 18, 2005
• Fotografija: Miha Jeršek
• Oblikovanje: Matjaž Učakar
• Motiv: Zoisite
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s., Češka
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: 10 stamps
• Papir: Tullis Russell fluo litho 100 g/m2, gummed
• Velikost: 37,30 x 26,50 mm

(SLO) CENTENARY OF ORGANIZED TOURISM IN SLOVENIA

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: March 18, 2005
• Oblikovanje: Studio Botas
• Motiv: Slovene Towns on Old Postcards (including Portorož / Portorose, upper right)
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s., Češka
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Blok: one stamp
• Papir: Tullis Russell fluo litho 100 g/m2, gummed
• Velikost: 37,30 x 26,50 mm,
• Miniature Sheet Size: 70 x 60 mm
• Value: 100,00 SIT

• Date of issue: .April 8, 2005
• Value: 23 kn
• Author: Sanja Rešček, painter and designer, Academy of Arts, Zagreb
• Size: 29,82 x 48,28 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: "Zrinski" - Čakovec
• Quantity: 600000
• Motif: Photograph by Gabriel Bouys (photo France Presse) FAREWELL TO THE EARTH

Pope John Paul II has found himself in Croatia for the fourth time. This time it is to stay here forever, strewn in love all over it and the whole world as dust in resplendent rays. Such enormous devotion to a human being has so far never been shown. If one was to look for an explanation for this unanimity it would be easy to find it in the readable virtues of his exemplary biography. John Paul II with his exceptional characteristics was made the first Polish bishop at the age of thirty-seven (1958), to become archbishop (1964), cardinal (1967) and finally pope at only fifty-eight years of age. The first pope of Slav origin, coming from the communist world, experienced life in all its different forms. He was a worker in a quarry, a poet, was involved in the theatre, loved sport throughout his life. Not an abstract clerk in religion, but a man with a soul, body and all its experience. His Christian offer was opening the borders of religions and nations to love for one’s fellow creature. He was just, tolerant, consistent, ready for humility and forgiveness. Never turning a blind eye to anything, gentle to everything and everyone, he kept knocking on people’s conscience, trustworthily and constantly, pulling down ideological barriers and denouncing misuse of power. He perceived his mission as the maintenance of highest ideals and criteria, and has never given up on his theses, at the same time having an understanding for the hardships of individual lives. Croatia owes this Pole from White Croatia the staunchest support in their aspirations for survival, identification and affirmation – in all the things unstained and just. Likewise, we owe him for his warnings that should be forever remembered. It was three times that he visited our land (in 1994, 1998 when he beatified cardinal Stepinac, and in 2003). However, all the data of his exemplary biography can explain the unanimous esteem, but there was something necessary to produce this quantity of love that is accompanying the Pope’s demise. The man who had invested all his strength for the common good has become almost superhuman when he had overcome his suffering and weakness. The continued spending himself like a burning candle to the very last moment, lighting up the path to the elevated world of goodness – the path that can begin only in every person’s heart. What he left behind is the holy trail.

• Date of issue: April 22, 2005
• Value: 1,8 kn; 2,3 kn; 3,5 kn
• Author: Ana Žaja & Mario Petrak, designers, Zagreb
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: "Zrinski" - Čakovec
• Quantity: 200000

Ladybird - Coccinella septempunctata L.

Along the many related species: yellow with black spots, black, orange and red, the ladybird (also called ladybug) belongs to the insect family Coccinellidae (ladybirds), the order of Coleoptera. The ladybird is the people’s favourite among insects and there are also some terms of endearment like božji volek (approximately ‘God’s bullock’). The insect is spread all over Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Ladybirds are round in contour and flat below, more than 8 mm in length. Its head with antennae is so small that it can be folded below the body. Behind the head there is a black wider thoracic shield with two wide yellow spots. The upper wings are, like in all Coleoptera are thickened and rigid, and are often called forewings. They are red in colour with seven black spots, three of them arranged in triangles on each forewing, while the seventh is placed below the thoracic shield in the middle of both forewings. The hind-wings are membranous, so the insect can fly well at shorter distances. In nature it can be found from early spring to late autumn in fields, forests, on various plants. In early spring the adults come out of their winter shelters and soon afterwards start to mate. The females lay their eggs in little piles of 10 to 12 eggs on the reverse part of plant leaves, primarily where aphids and scale lice can be found. These will soon be juicy food for the larvae. A female can lay 400 to 700 eggs. The larvae are great predators – one of them can eat around 3,000 aphids, and this is why they are classified among useful insects, like most insects from this family, though some species can be harmful. The larva is greyish-green – with an elongated body with black and yellow spiky warts on each body ringlet. The larvae often shed and grow fast in the course of the process. They are very mobile, looking for adult and larger specimen of aphids. In the final shedding of the shell in the larvae phase, it calms down and turns into a pupa that hangs upside down as an orange bladder with black spots. The adult form of the insect emerges from the pupa, soft and white, but soon acquires the recognizable “decoration”. Depending on the weather conditions it can have two to three generations a year.

Long-horned Beetle - Rosalia alpina (L.)

The long-horned beetle belongs to the insect family Cerambycidae (long-antennal, long-horned beetles) of the Coleoptera order. It is the only species of the family Rosalia in the expansion area. In Croatia the species has become thinned out due to excessive extermination and the change of life conditions in their habitats, consequently it was pronounced a protected species. It dwells in mountainous areas of beech forests. We find adult insects from June to September. The long-horned beetle is a diurnal insect, active in sunny weather. The species is spread all over the southern part of Central Europe, Southern Europe and Northern Africa. In the northern part of Central Europe the species has become extinct. The long-horned beetle is an insect 15 – 38 mm in length. The basic colour of its body is dark, thickly covered with blue-white downy hairs, so they seem to be greyish-blue. There is a little black spot placed in the middle of the front edge of the thoracic shield, and on both sides there are two upright barbs. On the forewings there are three pairs of dark stripes – the middle one being the largest and widest, the one in the back the smallest one. This spotted quality is quite varied in each individual insect. On its prominent head there are placed pronouncedly long, black-and-white antennae. It has three pairs of long thin legs. Adult insect feed on plant juices. The female lays its eggs under the bark of old beech trees or cut down trunks and stumps. The development of the larva lasts between three and up to nine years.

Stag Beetle – Lucanus cervus L.

The stag beetle is the best known insect of the Lucinidae family. The majority of this family (and there are more than 900 species) are characterized by enormously developed strong mandibles in both sexes, though they are usually larger in males and they make this feature a recognizable sexual biform. The insect’s body is more than 7.5 cm in length, out of which the mandibles make a third of the length in males. On their inner side the mandibles are serrated and resemble the antlers of a stag – which is the reason for the whole species to get its name. The insect has on its head tenfold antennae that end in laminated dilatations. The females are somewhat smaller and their mandibles are not so enormously developed, though they can powerfully bite with them. Their bodies are dark brown. The stag beetle is the largest insect in Croatia and is a protected species. It is spread out in Central and Southern Europe and Asia Minor. It dwells in oak forests, in rotten trees and stumps. They live in oak forests close to rotten trees and stumps. Adult insects feed on plant juices and fly at sunset. They lay their eggs in rotten stumps or into the ground close to them. The larvae develop through a period between 5 to 6 years, mostly in cut-down oak trees, in the root niches of leaf forests, only rarely in coniferous trees. After that they change into the pupa stage and remain in larger tree hollows where they completely develop by autumn, though they do not leave the pupa before the summer of the next year.

• Date of issue.: May 9, 2005  
• Value: 3,50Kn 
• Author: Orsat Franković & Ivana Vučić, designers, Zagreb 
• Size: 35,50 x 29,82 mm  
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: comb,14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 300000

A sketch on bread and wine

If we were to make up a most inadequate list of wines and bread, every conversation covering such a small space would remain a mere catchword, If, on the other hand, we were to emphasize their deeper hidden meanings, in various parts of the world, in different civilizations, religions or simply in human history, the task would turn out to be impossible. In this case, along with a brilliant erudition one would almost need an encyclopaedia!

The entry ‘bread’ in the lexicon states the following: “known from times immemorial as the well-known fundamental food of many peoples, made by baking dough from cereal flour and water, with the addition of leaven and salt”. In the same lexicon the entry on wine states “wine is a drink made by alcoholic fermentation of unfermented grape-juice. According to colour wines can be divided into white, rosé and red.” This is the most basic division in the framework of which there is a profusion and uncountable number of classifications and meanings to be found.

Bread and wine are the two most important things in man’s life. The culture of cultivating cereal crops and the making of wine has grown from the needs of everyday life to cult and mystery. This is why bread and wine can be called victuals but also symbols full of mystical and symbolic meanings. Their spiritual communion is the foundation of the Eucharist, i.e. the sacrament of the sacrifice of the Lord’s body and blood. This is the reason that both bread and wine used to be divided, particularly in the Middle Ages, into the sacral and profane.

If bread should be taken as the symbol of Jesus Christ’s body and his sacrifice, a loaf of bread is the attribute of Saint Dominic (with a snake it is also the attribute of Saint Benedict, while small loaves are symbols of Mary of Egypt, etc.). One should not completely disregard the fact that a dog took a loaf of bread to Saint Rock into the wilderness where God’s gift, the manna, fell from heaven. According to the Hebraic tradition leavened bread is a sin, and unleavened bread is used as ritual bread. Bread “must be baked from wheat flour and that means body, while wine as blood means the soul” (C.G.Jung, Psychology of Alchemy, p.320).

Where would the story of bread and wine take us? Only the listing of their sorts, their tastes or colours, ways of their preparation and ingredients would endanger any effort that seeks to preserve and stay within the anticipated frame. It is the basic food both of the rich and the poor that puts the wealth and poverty on the same level and actually gives certain precedence to the poor. How come? While the poor feed on dark, brown, simpler and poorer but to all appearances wholesome bread, the rich eat “blindingly white” and presumably unwholesome bread.

Enjoyment of food, particularly wine, recognizes moderation but also exaggeration, real bacchanalia and feasts where temperance and common sense were not highly appreciated. “Only no water” says an inscription on a Dionysian temple (1). This is supported by Jesus’ first miracle in Cana in Galilee but also the “sober intoxicating quality of wine” referred to by Saint Augustine. The Old Testament sages considered wine to be a liar. The Hebrews used to offer it to their enemies, there are some who sing praise to it (the Greeks), others consider it a mortal temptation, others yet think it is the “mirror of the soul” (Alcheius). Those who, since time immemorial, consider it to be the friend of truth actually sow the seeds of the later Latin proverb In vino veritas – or in a simpler, more sincere translation this means ‘what to say when drunk is what you think when sober’. Drinking wine according to this proverb means pave the way to sincerity and veracity. There is an underlying thought that sober persons worry too much about what they say, applying tactics, expressing themselves diplomatically and carefully (so you do not know what they think), while persons who have had a glass or two of wine are an open book. This sincerity is at its best the consequence of good wine. Along with good wine goes veracity, while after having imbibed bad wine one can only lie or talk incoherently. This is best expressed by Béla Hamvas who recognizes hybrid grapes as those from which you can only make reeking wine made by the devil himself. According to Hamvas it is the “drink of puritans, pious persons, spinsters, bachelors, predatory persons, misers, envious persons and mean bastards”. Differentiating between religious and atheist grapes, Hamvas mentions that “the devil envied the Lord’s art of making wine and decided to make wine himself”.

There is an entire oenologist collection of newspapers and journals and library, symbolism and metaphors about bread, and particularly about wine. The book Philosophy of wine (Ceres, Zagreb 1993) is possibly the best book about wine (and bread), a small, concise catechism of the culture of drinking (how to drink, when, with whom, before or after which meal to drink, etc.), not as an instruction and catalogue of suggestions and expertise, but as a sign of corporeal and spiritual health. This work of a wise man and connoisseur also found a place for the social categorization of wine. So, for instance, he quotes wines for gala dances, engagements, weddings, ... for all the life’s events and awkward situations, the wine from Somlos is the “loners’ wine”, while the one from Kiskörös “suffers no loneliness”.

Drink or victual? For Hamvas, wine likes to accompany fish which is “the wine’s best side dish”.

The dilemma is a false one. For a clever person wine is food and a way to reach into one’s own soul. A clever person drinks in order to find oneself; an intemperate person drinks to lose oneself.

(1) Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Semele, the Greek god of intoxication, vine and enjoyment, the friend and muse, a symbol of insobriety and unrestricted love. There are many festivals held in his honour, like the Dionysia, but also orgies and drunken feasts.

See also: Gastronomy, Breads

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: May 20, 2005
• Risba: Matjaž Učakar
• Oblikovanje: Matjaž Učakar
• Motiv: Roll Cakes (Poticas)
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s.
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: 8 stamps
• Papir: Tullis Russell fluo litho 100 g/m2, gumiran
• Velikost: 37,30 x 26,50 mm

(SLO) Definitive Stamp - Sunflower

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: May 20, 2005
• Risba: Jelka Reichman
• Oblikovanje: Jelka Reichman
• Motiv: Sunflower
• Tisk: Österreichische Staatsdruckerei GmbH, Avstrija
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: Self-adhesive sheetlets of 6 stamps
• Papir: Tullis Russell Chancellor Litho, 215 g/m2
• Velikost: 23,20 x 30,45 mm

(SLO) Slovene Mythology - VESNA

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: May 20, 2005
• Oblikovanje: Andrejka Čufer
• Motiv: Vesna
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s.
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: 25 stamps
• Papir: Tullis Russell fluo litho 100 g/m2, gumiran
• Velikost: 26,50 x 37,30 mm
• Nazivna vrednost na dan izida: 180,00 SIT

• Date of issue: June 2, 2005  
• Value: 3,50Kn 
• Author: Ana Žaja i Mario Petrak, designers, Zagreb 
• Size: 35,50 x 29,82 mm  
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint + thermography  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 200000 
• Motif: Authors’ creation on the subject of corals and sponges

SPONGE DIVING

Sponge diving has been known since the Ancient World. The inhabitants of the islands in the Aegean Sea have been mentioned as the first sponge harvesters who have spread sponge diving to other parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Until the first half of the 19th century, the European market used to be supplied exclusively with Mediterranean sponges, and it was only round the year 1840 that regions have been discovered in the sea beds of the Bahamas where dense colonies of high quality sponges were spread out.

On the Croatian coast sponge diving was first mentioned in 1522. Two inhabitants of Zlarin started diving for sponges for a merchant from Šibenik who then used to sell them in Venice.

The inhabitants of the island of Krapanj became seriously engaged in sponge diving at the end of the 17th century and since then they have been considered the only sponge harvesters on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.

In 1911, the sponge harvesters from Krapanj founded a sponge-diving cooperative with 16 divers, 6 diving apparatuses and 30 boats. In 1947 the enterprise Spužvar (‘Sponger’) was founded that has continued developing in the course of the years and both gathered and processed sponges with more or less success.

The sea sponge has a wide applicable value even today, though modern technology, using various synthetic materials, endeavours to imitate its natural qualities that are manifested by its sturdiness, toughness, softness, readiness to absorb water, etc.

Sponges are primitive multicellular animals. There are 5000 species living in the sea, but only 15 species among them have applicable value, and sponger usually refer to them as tame sponges. Colonies of tame sponges develop in all warmer seas. In the Croatian Adriatic sea beds a high quality sponge in great demand, Euspongia officinalis adriatica, is widely spread, and its can grow up to 40 cm in diameter. The sponges have the quality of regenerable bio-resources, but their exploitation should be performed with great responsibility. Our sponge gatherers would secure a higher income if they paid more attention to the processing and even cultivating of sponges and prevent the export of semi-processed sponges. By introducing better organization, sponge diving could develop into a very profitable economic activity.

CORAL DIVING

The red coral (Corallium rubrum) is usually referred to as the red gold of the Mediterranean. It was dived from the sea by the old Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and beautiful and highly appreciated ornamentation was manufactured. Many legends are linked to the red coral; some regard it a source of vital energy, a holy stone, etc., and in some regions in our country new-born babies are adorned with a coral bracelet to ward off a bad spell.

The first Croatian coral diver was Mihajlo Sinković from Šibenik, who possessed a license for the diving and processing of corals which he received in 1687. Among the many centuries long tradition of coral diving on the Adriatic, we consider the one on the island of Zlarin to be the most outstanding.

During the time of the Venetian power, the inhabitants of Zlarin used to equip up to 16 boats for coral diving and on the day when they were to leave on the expedition the whole population of the island participated in the procession that used to end with the blessing of the boats. After the blessing the fishermen received gifts of cheese, onions and vinegar from their wives, and then they would set off round midnight from the port in order not to be struck by evil eyes, i.e. they tried to avoid being spotted by the Venetians. The punishment for concealing the catch could sometimes come to getting a sentence of being sent to the galleys. In the course of the 18th century, the Galbiani family managed all the fishing-ground that was under the government administration of Italy, later Austria.

Since 1868 coral diving was proclaimed free and exempt from state taxes, but despite this coral diving in Dalmatia has kept going downhill, because the supplies of non-processed corals were poorly sold, and there were no people engaged in manufacturing coral ornamentation.

At the beginning of the 20th century there were some cooperatives founded in Zlarin that were supposed to help revive the tradition of coral diving. They also established coral-cutting workshops for cutting and grinding of corals and producing ornamentation. This attempt has soon gone to the dogs, so it was after World War II that the coral-cutting industry has been revived again and reached the level of former successful times, but on the other hand it seems to have lost the battle against various artificial materials for the production of diverse sorts of coral ornamentation.

Nowadays we can witness the fact that uncontrolled quantities of corals are dived and then smuggled out of the country to other countries that have a developed coral-cutting industry and the manufacturing of valuable ornamentation.

It is high time for us to protect our sponges and corals and organize a responsible management and processing of this wonderful treasure of our Adriatic sea.

(HRV) STAMP DAY - The First Telegraph overhead power line in Croatia

• Date of issue: September 9, 2005  
• Value: 2,30Kn 
• Author: Sabina Rešić, painter and designer, Zagreb 
• Size: 35,50 x 29,82 mm 
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 200000 

• Motif: Part of the Morse telegraph device

Man’s aspiration to convey a message at the speed of a thought to great distances is as old as the man himself. Unable to achieve it in practice, in the course of his long history the man has transferred this power to mythical creatures – god’s messengers. This is proved by the many myths and legends of the peoples of the ancient world. In reality, the man realized this desire in 1844 by the invention and application of the commercial electromagnetic telegraph.

Up to the time of the invention of electricity and its diverse practical application, in practice people used signs - signals previously agreed upon (acoustic and optical ones), and thus relayed messages relatively fast and at great distances. For this purpose they used the natural configuration of the land or built signal towers from which they could send the messages. Among the means they applied for signalling they used fire and smoke, and drums, horns, bells, mortars, guns, cannons ..., as well as artificially constructed optical telegraphs with torches and semaphores. Croats, too, used this primitive way of transferring messages in their medieval and New Age past, particularly during war periods. There are many proofs including medieval sources and clinched peace treaties, particularly those that concern the lengthy periods of waging war against the Ottomans. There is a contractual decree to prove how important such signalling was for the war operations of that time: this decree testifies that in 1477 the Hungarian-Croatian king Matthias Corvinus took a pledge to the then superior Ottomans that he would signal the Venetians “neither by cannons or mortars nor by setting fires or releasing smoke” that their armies were advancing upon them.

Though these signals were very useful, their efficacy was in many ways limited. The capitalist manner of production and the permanent desire for the ever greater profit resulted in the need for raw materials to be transported to the production premises as soon as possible as well as for the produced goods to be placed and sold on the market. Along with the new transportation means (steamship, train) the need emerged for a speedily sent and received message by the help of which it would be possible to learn everything about this new way and functioning of economic activities. Furthermore, every authority, particularly the country’s government, kept trying to centralize its administration in order to secure its superior power and shape the society according to its ideas and visions, but also to secure peace and order in the country. This is why the state authorities also found speedily sent and received messages necessary and indispensable.

Great scientific inventions in the 19th century (in our case the invention of electricity and the electromagnet) and the anticipation that they could be used for the transfer of messages almost at the speed of men’s thoughts, stimulated a great number of eminent individuals of various professions to work on inventions that would make this possible. These were: Shilling, a Russian diplomat, Gauss and Weber, German professors, Cooke, Wheatstone, the English producer of musical instruments, and many others, less known and eminent persons.

The Englishman Wheatstone managed to construct a signalling telegraph with hands (a magnetic needle) that was introduced into use in English trains to ensure their safety.

The greatest glory for the invention of the functional and commercial telegraph goes to the American painter and pedagogue, Samuel Finley Breese Morse who transmitted a message between Washington and Baltimore on May 24, 1844.

When the telegraph was being installed in Croatia, the country was within the framework of the Austrian Empire. The introduction of the telegraph into use happened relatively late in comparison to Austria itself. Austria introduced the application of this invention in 1845, soon after the United States of America, the cradle of the telegraph. The telegraph overhead power line, earlier set up between Vienna and Celje, was drawn along the road from Zidani Most to Zagreb in 1850. The work on the setting up of the telegraph line towards Zagreb started in spring of the above mentioned year. It continued with great difficulties because the local inhabitants repeatedly obstructed the work. The motives for these obstructions were primarily based on the belief that the telegraph wires were going to attract thunder and hail.

Despite the difficulties, the air line was drawn to the centre of the town on September 10, 1850. Part of the insulated wire was placed beneath the ground in the town. Some time later, to be precise on September 28, the first telegraph messages were exchanged between Vienna and Zagreb. The first telegraph message from Zagreb to Vienna sent by the vice-ban Benko Lentulaj went as follows: “The telegraph is in working order”. The telegraph message that followed was from Vienna and it was the message sent by ban (provincial governor) Jelacic who was there at the time, written in the Croatian language. The words of Jelacic’s telegraph were: “It is with great joy that I received your message”. The primary function of the telegraph was only for official usage, i.e. for administrative and military service. Soon it was given application in economy, to be followed by the period of telegraph usage for the needs of the citizens, and finally for newspapers which depended on it for the placement of speedy and accurate news.

After the year 1850 Zagreb became the centre of telegraph lines. In 1854 new telegraph lines were set up: Zagreb – Karlovac, Gospić – Zadar, Trieste – Pazin – Pula; these were followed by the lines Zadar – Split – Dubrovnik, Sisak – Metković, Otočac and Kaštel Novi in 1857, Slavonski Brod in 1858 and finally Kostajnica – Nova Gradiška and Knin in 1859. In the course of time the telegraph network spread further, so that by placing submarine cables islands were linked to the coastland. As early as 1860 the islands of Cres and Vir were linked to the coast. At the end of 1918 there were as many as 400 telegraph offices in Croatia. In the first period of the development of the telegraph in Croatia, apparatuses invented by Morse, Hughes and Baudot were used.

(HRV) TOWERS AND FORTRESSES (C) - MOTOVUN (MONTONA) FORTIFICATION, 13TH - 15TH CENTURY

• Date of issue: September 15, 2005  
• Value: 2,30Kn 
• Author: Danijel Popović, designer, Zagreb 
• Size: 29,82 x 48,28 mm 
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb , 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 200000 

The picturesque medieval town of Motovun, Montona in Italian, was built on the conical hill of the levelled plateau. It is characterized by a tradition of urbane features from the times of the prehistoric big town. It became a settlement in the ancient times from the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd centuries.

The present-day appearance of this town-monument, an small ancient Istrian acropolis town, located atop a 277-meter high hill, with the crenellated battlements of the church bell tower (13th -15th c.) dominating the valley of the river Mirna, originates from the medieval times, from the 12th and 13th centuries. Leading up the hill of Motovun, to its Venetian town square, is the longest Istrian flight of stairs with 1052 steps.

The town developed on the site of the pre-historic big town, changing feudal lords in the Middle Ages, and from 1278 to 1779 being continually ruled by the Venetians. The settlement that was adapted to the configuration of the land consists of three main parts that are separated by fortifications. All the three parts are connected by a system of external and internal fortifications with walls, towers and the town gate, built in the period between the 14th and 17th centuries. These walls have the shape of a ring and two semi-rings.

The oldest circular core of the settlement is situated on the plateau of the hill, surrounded by walls originating from the 13th and 14th centuries. On the inner side, below the beltway, the walls were fortified by a range of spike-arched niches, and on prominent spots there are rectangular defence towers. This medieval town core also had the inner central gate bearing Early Gothic features from the 14th century.

The belt of town walls at the top of the hill is one of the rare fortification units that have been preserved in its entire length. Within the walls there is the municipal palace, a monumental Romanesque edifice, at the foot of which there is a passage formed for the inner town gate. The palace was built in the 12th century, and it was annexed in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The new gates are situated on the external square. It was built in the first half of the 16th century as a tower with Renaissance style features. On the opposite side of the same square we can find a Renaissance-Baroque lodge, a loggia, a feature of municipal life. The central (inner) square of Motovun is dominated by Sansovino-Palladian style parish church of St. Stephen (built at the beginning of the 17th century), with its medieval bell tower from the 13th century standing next to it. The bell tower was built at the same time as the original church in this spot, and in the past it served as a defence tower. Beneath the central square is the public water reservoir – a stone gorge with the town coat of arms from the 14th and 15th centuries.

In the arrangement of Motovun’s narrow streets the medieval characteristic of the town has been preserved. Along the main communication line three further churches were built: Madonna dei Servi (built in 1584), St.John Baptist and Madonna delle Porte (1521) and St. Anthony di Padua (16th century. renovated in 1855).

On the southern slopes of this hill, at the foot of the town walls, there is the settlement Podgrađe, while at the eastern ridge of the hill we find the new suburb. This town part was also fortified, but only a small part of it was preserved next to the southern town gate with its Gothic features.

See also:

• Towns, Motovun - Montona

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: September 23, 2005
• Risba: Jurij Mikuletič
• Oblikovanje: Jurij Mikuletič
• Motiv: The Istrian Smooth-coated Hound
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s.
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Blok: 1 stamp
• Papir: Tullis Russel fluo litho 100 g/m2 gummed
• Velikost: 37,30 x 26,50 mm
• Nazivna vrednost na dan izida: 107,00 SIT

The Istrian Smooth-coated Hound is a slender dog of snowy-white base colour with yellowish-orange markings, short firm coat, fairly narrow head that is slightly wider in the forehead, with serene expression and moderate stop. The nose is black or at least dark brown. The ears are set wide, slightly above the eye line and hang flat against the jowls. The head is 20-25cms long. Teeth: scissor bite, dentition perfect. Height at the withers is 44-56cms (The ideal height ? dogs: 50cm; bitches: 48cm). The hounds attain weight of 14-20kgs. Their body length exceeds their height by 10%. It is an excellent hound especially for fox and rabbit hunting.

See also:

•  Fauna, Dogs

(SLO) The Istrian Rough-coated Hound

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: September 23, 2005
• Risba: Jurij Mikuletič
• Oblikovanje: Jurij Mikuletič
• Motiv: The Posavec Hound
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s.
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: 25 stamps
• Papir: Tullis Russel fluo litho 100 g/m2 gummed
• Velikost: 37,30 x 26,50 mm
• Nazivna vrednost na dan izida: 57,00 SIT

The Istrian Rough-coated Hound is a hound of medium weight and of snowy-white base colour with yellowish orange markings. It has medium length, wiry, hard topcoat and bushy eyebrows. The head is relatively strong, wider in the forehead and narrowing towards the eyes, with moderate stop. The ears are set wide, slightly above the eye line and hang flat against the jowl. The head is 20-24cms long. Teeth: scissor bite, dentition perfect. An excellent hound, especially for fox and rabbit hunting. It also makes a good blood trail follower. It is slightly taller than the smooth-coated variety. Height at the withers: 46-58cms (The ideal height ? dogs: 52cm; bitches: 50cm). The hounds attain weight of 16-24kgs. Their body length exceeds their height by 10%. The biggest contribution to the development of the breed and to its international recognition was made by Dr. Lovrenčič who created the modern Istrian Rough-coated Hound by crossing the Istrian Smooth-coated Hound with the French Griffon Vendeen. The first Istrian Smooth- coated Hound entered in the register of breeds was Vit bred by Dako Mlakar of Metlika and owned by Matevž Hoegler of Struga. The first Istrian Rough-coated Hound to be entered in the register of breeds was Burin bred and owned by Dr. Lovrenčič. The Istrian Hounds were first exhibited in Vienna in 1866 listed in the catalogue under this name. They were exhibited by the Slovenian dog breeder, hunter and owner of Bistra Castle Karl Galle.

See also:

•  Fauna, Dogs

(SLO) The Posavec Hound

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: September 23, 2005
• Risba: Jurij Mikuletič
• Oblikovanje: Jurij Mikuletič
• Motiv: The Posavec Hound
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s.
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: 25 stamps
• Papir: Tullis Russel fluo litho 100 g/m2 gummed
• Velikost: 37,30 x 26,50 mm
• Nazivna vrednost na dan izida: 49,00 SIT

(SLO) The Slovenian Mountain Hound

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: September 23, 2005
• Risba: Jurij Mikuletič
• Oblikovanje: Jurij Mikuletič
• Motiv: The Slovenian Mountain Hound
• Tisk: Poštovní tiskárna cenin, Praha a. s.
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: 25 stamps
• Papir: Tullis Russel fluo litho 100 g/m2 gummed
• Velikost: 37,30 x 26,50 mm
• Nazivna vrednost na dan izida: 95,00 SIT

(SLO) Detail of the Dance of Death from Hrastovlje

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: September 23, 2005
• Oblikovanje: Villa Creativa
• Motiv: Detail of the Dance of Death from Hrastovlje
• Tisk: Österreichische Staatsdruckerei GmbH
• Tehnika: 4-colour offset
• Pola: 16 (se-tenant 8 x 2) stamps
• Papir: TTullis Russel Chancellor 105 g/m2, gumiran
• Velikost: 50,00 x 35 mm
• Nazivna vrednost na dan izida: 107,00 SIT

Art - Gothic Art

The term "Gothic" is used to describe a style of art produced in Europe from the mid-12th century to the end of the 15th century, depending on the region in question. The name comes from the Italian word "gotico", meaning "barbarous", "not antique", a term coined by the Italian art critic Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century to describe the art and architecture of the Middle Ages, which he considered to be barbaric and uncivilized — like the Goths. The essential character of the Gothic period, particularly at the outset, was the predominance of architecture. Some of the best-known examples of this architecture are Gothic cathedrals in France, where the Gothic art originated and from where it spread throughout Europe. Gothic style, however, refers to more than cathedral structures. Gothic architects also designed monasteries and secular buildings such as castles and manors. In addition, gothic style also applies to sculpture, which was predominantly architectural in character in the beginning, to panel painting, woodcarving, copper engraving and other forms of visual art. The Gothic Age ended with the advent of the Renaissance in Italy about the beginning of the 15th century, although Gothic art and architecture continued in the rest of Europe, including Slovenia, through most of the 15th century. In Slovenia, the Gothic age produced many fine works of monumental fresco paintings and illuminated manuscripts. A masterpiece example of such Gothic art is the Dance of Death fresco from the Church of the Holy Trinity in Hrastovlje, a detail of which is depicted on the stamps. The fresco is the work of Istrian painter Janez of Kastav. Kastav is an ancient settlement located close to Rijeka, Croatia, known for two important 15th century fresco artists Vincent and Janez of Kastav. The former decorated the interior of the Church of St Mary near Beram in Croatia, while the latter painted together with his assistants the marvellous frescoes of the fortified Church of the Holy Trinity, which stands on a small elevation above the Mediterranean village of Hrastovlje. The church is concealed behind an encampment wall with two round towers built as a defence against the Turks. It is renowned for its rich interior paintings and frescoes which are considered to be one of the finest examples of medieval painting in Slovenia. The most outstanding among them is the famous Dance of Death. The fresco painted on the southern wall is 90cm high and 630cm long. It features eleven figures including every walk of life, from pope, kings, queens, cardinals, bishops, priests down through richmen, tradesmen, cripples, and even a child just emerging from its cradle. They are each holding hands with a skeleton who leads them to the master skeleton, Death himself, who in his turn helpfully holds the lid to the grave open. The part of the fresco depicted on the se-tenant stamps features skeletons, the priest holding a book under his arm, the bishop and the cardinal. The inscription partly written in Latin and partly in the old Glagolitic script (glagolica) written underneath the fresco, which illustrates the principle of equality of all before Death, reveals that Johannes de Kastua completed his work on 13 July 1490.

See also:

• Visual Arts, History

• Date of issue.: 4.11.2005  
• Value: 2,30Kn 
• Author: Orsat Franković, Ivana Vučić, designers, Zagreb 
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm 
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 200000 

TIN UJEVIĆ (July 5th, 1891 – November 12th, 1955)

The year 1955, its second half, was tragic for the Croatian literature and culture: Tin Ujević, Mihovil Kombol, Antun Barac, Milan Marjanović, Dragutin Boranić – all of them died. Too many for a modest national culture.

Tin (Augustin) Ujević was born in Vrgorac on the 5th of July 1891, i.e. the feast of the Holy Brothers, Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. He wrote ironically, mocking himself that this was the reason the day was chosen to be a popular holiday. His father was a teacher and the family used to move from smaller places in the province to larger ones, in the vicinity of towns. He started attending elementary school in Imotski and completed it in Makarska. Then he continued his education in Split, in the classical grammar school, lived in the junior seminary and started preparing for priesthood. He gave up the idea and enrolled the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb in 1909. In Zagreb Ujević started socializing with Antun Gustav Matoš, regarding him as his teacher (calling him ‘Rabbi’) and referring to himself as his disciple (‘Discipulus’). Following a public polemic they split in 1911. Ujević developed from an adherent of the Party of Rights and an aggressive representative of this party to a supporter of the unification of Southern Slavs, particularly Croats and Serbs, which was the subject of his public lecture in Belgrade and he also published a booklet (which he did not sign). He went to Paris in 1913 where he promoted his political ideas, but after being disappointed by the behaviour of the representatives of the Yugoslav committee and the Serbian diplomacy, in 1917 he stopped his engagement in politics forever. This is when he dedicated himself to the study of French and other literatures. After World War One he stayed in Zagreb for a short time, and then lived for a longer period in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Split and Supetar on the island of Brač. In 1940 he returned to Zagreb where he made his living as a writer and led a bohemian way of life. From 1941 to 1945 he did not publish a single book and lived from earning his living as a journalist and translator. Despite this fact he was sentenced to five years of imposed silence, i.e. forbidden to publish. In the last days of the year 1950 he had a selection of his collections published in Zagreb, under the title Rukovet (‘Handful’). The book was edited by Jure Kaštelan and Ujević was again brought into the centre of literary interest of both his readers and the general public hungry for excitement. He died on the 12th of November 1955.

Tin Ujević contributed ten poems to the famed collection of Croatian modern poetry Hrvatska mlada lirika (‘Croatian new lyric poetry’), (1945). There you can also find his celebrated poem Oproštaj (‘Farewell’) with the opening line that reads ‘Here, in the midst of the port of our blue (sea )....’. The first individual collections of his poems were published in Belgrade: Lelek sebra (‘Slave’s wail’), (1920), and Kolajna (‘Necklace’), 1926). His third collection, Auto na korzu (‘Car on the promenade’) was published in Nikšić in 1932. He made himself known to the Croatian readership and literary criticism by the completely new poetics in the collection Žedan kamen na studencu (‘Thirsty stone on the water-well’) published by Matica Hrvatska (Croatian Matrix). Collections of articles and studies Ljudi na vratima gostionica (‘People at the pubs’ doors’) and Skalpel kaosa (‘Scalpel of chaos’) demonstrated the extent of his interest in all the problems of culturology of the past and the modern times. The announced book of poetic prose Zapisi s mramornog stola (‘Notes from the marble table’) was never published. After the collection Rukoveti, the only collection of poems published in his lifetime was Žedan kamen na studencu (1954). His collected works, Sabrana djela (1963 - 1967) were published in 17 sizable volumes. Individually and within selected works, Izabrana djela, numerous editions of his poems, essays and studies were published.

The poetic opus of Tin Ujević is diverse and manifold. His early poems are still in the shadow of the Croatian Modernism, the verses preserve strict forms in the themata and structure. In his early collections one can already see his maturing in the themata and the poetic expression, primarily when encountering the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Love and disappointment, suffering and pain, solitude and anxiety, all these are expressed by verses of deeply-felt symbolic emotions. Later collections show a prevalence of reflectivity over emotionality. In the poems from this period the verse is liberated from the fetters of strictness, the metaphorical blossoms into a fullness of amazement, the poems often become unintelligible, or at least unclear, but deeply enclosed by the presentiment of fortitude regarding the essence of what has been expressed. In his feuilletons and essays Ujević demonstrated a huge, encyclopaedic knowledge of everything that he touched upon in his writing and pondering, whether he wrote about literature or philosophy, philology or politics, natural sciences of religious beliefs. He translated poetry and prose from numerous languages, and his translations can be counted among the ideal examples of mastery. His poetry and prose work is the uppermost achievement of Croatian literature from the first half of the 20th century. Ivo Frangeš, writing about his work, particularly about his poetry, said: “Never has Croatian lyric poetry penetrated so deep into the subconscious, the sagacious, the mysterious, never has it moved through the dark provincial environment where we are faced by contrasts, struck by scorching ice and cooled by burning flames. The poetic Croatian language has all of a sudden broken away from the shackles of the folklore background and has been carried away by the experience of many centuries of singing about themes of love, death and the tragedy of man’s existence, superiorly expressing the essential about the essentials”.

See also:

• LITERATURE, Poetry - Tim Ujević

(HRV) CROATIAN TOWNS - RIJEKA

• Date of issue: November 10, 2005  
• Value: 3,50 Kn 
• Author: Hrvoje Šercar, painter and graphic designer, Zagreb
• Size: 35,50 x 25,56 mm
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb , 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 1000000 

The city enraptured by moonshine

In the former Venetian gulf, the Adriatic Sea of today, there were three cities that always suffered from largeness and grandness, that were complacently turned to them themselves, filled with yearning for life, shackled by the inevitability of sorrowful staggering. Venice was the Queen of the sea, Trieste a Viennese suburb, Rijeka the city of “inexhaustible loyalty” ... Nowadays, at the time with no dreams, Saint Mark’s city can only be a luxuriant scenery for various Deaths, Trieste is tasteless, like a dried up Sacher gâteau, and Rijeka, the glorious city of St.Vitus and the two-headed eagle – whose both heads are turned to the same side which, to say the least, is unusual – this city, then, has been left alone on the stage illuminated by the soft light of the Moon.

Though being a 19th century miracle, Rijeka is the city with the greatest number of Baroque marble altars on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, but also the city where the first torpedo was invented and manufactured.... Well, yes, but also the city intently staring into the mirror, indecisive whether to feel closer to Alice or to Dorian Grey.

If we take a dive into the past, we will see that what remained after the eradication of the Roman Empire was Trsat, Tarsattica, the mythical fortification of the long-haired Frankopans who called upon the long-haired Merovingian as their predecessors on the road to the combat for Faith. The Roman Frankopans supported Pope Urban II when he instigated the Crusades in 1095, while the Croatian Frankopans wanted to be crowned kings in the 17th century, which cost them their heads as the Hapsburgs where then at the height of their power.

The ruins of Trsat, this citadel above Rijeka, was renovated in the 19th century by Field-marshal Laval Nugent, the most powerful Croatian politician of his time, exalted by his dreams about the Frankopans. In the year 1848 the Hungarians accused him of desiring to crown his son Albert as king of all the Southern Slavs. We must keep in mind that it was he who appointed Josip Jelačić to the position of banus, supported by his friend, Archduke Joseph of the House of Hapsburg. ... Not having achieved the old dream of the Frankopans, he buried seven members of his family on Trsat in the vertical position, in this way referring to his own Celtic origin – these were, namely, the only people who buried their dead in this manner, in order to make them ready for Judgement Day. ... In this way the circle was closed, as the Celts were the ones who had given Trsat its name.

The Church of Our Lady of Trsat, world-wide known because it was built on the spot where, according to the legend, the Holy House from Nazareth had stood after being transported from the Holy Land - the one where Archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was going to give birth to Jesus Christ. Nowadays the house is in Loreto near Ancona, but we can also feel the true religiousness on Trsat while we stand above the graves of the Frankopans buried here.

In the city of a dowdy past, urbanistically completely unfinished, there exist individual jewels. First, here is the City Tower from which two Hapsburgs are watching us: Leopold II who in 1659 granted the city its coat of arms with the two-headed eagle and jug from which water is pouring, and Charles VI who in 1719 proclaimed Rijeka a free port, which he also did with Trieste.

It is exactly this port, the eighth in Europe before the First World War that raised the city to undreamed-of riches. If shipping affairs link Rijeka to Trieste, what connects Rijeka to Venice is eternal intolerance, currently expressed in the clash of the two carnivals that are among the greatest in Europe: the highly refined one in the city on the lagoons and the people’s carnival, elevated only by the little Negroes, the city in the bay of Kvarner... The refinement as the fatigue of an aged aristocrat, and the genuineness as a proof of vitality...?

Rather long ago a certain Lončarić gambled under the crucifix on which the wooden Jesus, cramped, suffered his pain. Having lost, he threw a stone on the sculpture and Christ started to bleed. The earth swallowed the ungodly person, and the miraculous Gothic sculpture found protection in the Baroque cathedral of St. Vitus which is a reflection of the Venetian church of Santa Maria della Salute ... The Venetian temple was built on foundations above millions of logs that the Frankopans felled in the hinterland of Rijeka. ... History can sometimes be very complex ...

Rijeka is a city that does not charm or enrapture, it is the place for patient observers. They will find here paintings by Gustav Klimt, Titian, Paolo Veronese and Giorgione, as well as sculptures by Antonio Canova – so much present in St. Peter’s Church in Rome – but it will not be an easy task, nor a simple one ... Because they would have to wait for that particular moment when moonshine illuminates the deep shadows of the narrow streets and when, perhaps, some of the images appear of whom we do not know whether they are real or only heroes of the stories all of us used to listen to in our childhood...

Bibliography:

• Croatian Post Inc. - Croatian Postage Stamps - English & Hrvatski
• Post of Slovenia - English & Slovensko
• Poste Italiane, Filatelia - http://e-filatelia.poste.it/showCataloghiProdotti.asp?id_categoria_prodotto=281