President Milanović at 400th anniversary of State Archives in Zadar: These archives are a major asset to Croatian history
“This city – Zadar, our Croatian Zadar – lived and proved its Slavism and Croathood through the written word a hundred years before the founding of these Archives. It’s not just Petar Zoranić, there’s also Brne Karnarutić, Šime Budinić, Juraj Baraković, all of these are works in our language, our people, our dialect in which they were written”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović stated today at the formal session on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the State Archives in Zadar.
“Zadar has preserved, nurtured and raised all of this to a certain level in Croatian history, and today we can proudly say that it is also a university city,” President Milanović stated in his address, pointing out that the number of five to six thousand male and female students who study at the University of Zadar that is just the right size for a beautiful city with the idea and ambition to develop and build. “But not overnight, just as the Archives were not created overnight, just as no great work is created overnight, so this work will take time,” added the President.
“It is a great honour and pleasure to be here. These Archives are a major asset, this city is significant in Croatian history. Its fate has always been in the balance, but it is unquestionably and deeply anchored Croatian, our city!“, he underlined.
Since he toured the State Archives in Zadar ahead of the formal session, President Milanović said that it was a great pleasure for him. “It is not said without reason and a profound meaning – ‘Spoken words fly away, written words remain’ – those documents are something you can hold onto. Of course, a map is one thing, and a government document or one of statehood is something completely different. Throughout history, it has always been complex and multidimensional, and just reading it, processing it lexically was never sufficient. Namely, those in power manipulate people’s lives and destinies, and what is written should not be taken for granted. Maps are another matter,” President Milanović said, pointing out that literacy and records are very important.
Speaking at the ceremony in addition to President Milanović on the importance of one of the oldest cultural institutions in the Republic of Croatia were the director of the Archives in Zadar Ante Gverić, the mayor of Zadar Branko Dukić, the Zadar County-prefect Božidar Longin, the rector of the University of Zadar Josip Faričić, and the Special Adviser and delegate of the Minister of Culture and Media Ivica Poljičak. Subsequently, the monograph “400 godina Državnog arhiva u Zadru 1624.-2024.“ (400 Years of the State Archives in Zadar 1624-2024) was presented by reviewer Ivica Mataija, director of the State Archives in Gospić, Ante Bralić of the Department of History at the University of Zadar, and Ante Gverić, editor and director of the Archives.
Ahead of the formal session, President Milanović, accompanied by the director of the Archives, toured the State Archives in Zadar, one of the oldest cultural institutions in the Republic of Croatia. It is an institution that today preserves one of the most significant archival documentation units for our national history, and as such, ranks alongside the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb. The significance of the archival material stored in the State Archives in Zadar is immeasurable for historical and related research not only of the Croatian past, but also of the past of the surrounding areas, with which our region was affiliated at that time.
Alongside President Milanović was the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić and the Special Adviser to the President for Culture Zdravko Zima.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta