Along the road towards the sea –
traditional clothing along the Karolina and Lujzijana roads

Etno Art Gallery, Ulica baruna Trenka 1
Exhibition opening: Friday:, 5. 7. 2019., 19.00 sati.
The exhibition remains open until July 31, 2019

It might be difficult to see a connection between road construction and the development of traditional costumes at first, but the two are actually inseparably linked. If we look at the traditional costumes through their fluidity and individuality generated at the time of their creation, the flow of people, fabrics, raw materials and ideas are crucial for their development through different periods of time and dress styles.

The central theme of the International Folklore Festival in Zagreb is the ethnographic and folklore wealth of the wider area along the historic Karolina and Lujzijana roads leading from Karlovac through Gorski Kotar to Rijeka, Croatian Littoral, Istria, and Kvarner.

The roads connected inland Croatia with the coast and turned the previously inaccessible Gorski Kotar into a transit area. The Karolina Road opened in 1727 after two years of construction. Although it was difficult to navigate in some sections due to bottlenecks or steep slopes and it was not paved before 1974, it nevertheless started the process of social and economic development of areas that is passed through. Since the road was difficult to navigate, the construction of a new road, the Lujzijana, started in 1803.

This road has not lost its importance to this day. Running from Rijeka through Gornje Jelenje, Delnice, Skrad, Vrbovsko, Severin na Kupi to Karlovac, the road was the shortest and the quickest way to travel between Rijeka and Karlovac. Accelerated development of Rijeka, Bakar, Kraljevica, as well as the towns along the Karolina Road, encouraged the settlement of craftsmen and traders, enhanced military and trade connections as well as the flow of goods.

With this infrastructure development, the selection of materials available for traditional costumes also increased. Introduction of new dress styles drove the development of new cuts and ornamentation with items made by craftsmen.

The exhibition Along the Road Towards the Sea – Traditional Clothing Along the Karolina and Lujzijana Roads presents items from the Kupa basin around Karlovac and Ozalj, from Žuberak, the Ogulin-Plaški Valley, Gorski Kotar, Istria, and the Croatian Littoral. The exhibition thus encompasses three of four cultural areas of Croatia (northern and northwestern Croatia, the mountainous region and the littoral). Apart from items of clothing and items required to make the traditional costumes, the exhibits also include traditional music instruments typical for the areas (šurle, dvojnice, mih, sopile) and props accompanying certain ritual practices, such as masks and costumes for the zvončari of the Rijeka area.

Exhibition authors:
Lucija Halužan, Ivana Mihajlic, Bojana Poljaković Popović