THE LACE OF HVAR

The Lace from Hvar The renaissance Hvar by its culture could have stood comparison with far bigger Mediterranean towns. The women from Hvar had the chance to acquire precious lace but also to learn how to make it in the techniques of that time, especially in the 16th century when many foreign families of tradesmen, seafarers and state officers immigrated to Hvar from different parts of Venetian Republic. About highly developed taste but also top lace skill testify also preserved priests’ shirts from the Franciscan monastery, decorated in the 17th century with needlepoint lace and bobbin lace as well as the altars of the cathedral in Hvar decorated with bobbin lace, characteristic by techniques and motifs for the period from the 16th to 18th century. Home textile and clothes decorated with lace, but also tools for lace making are mentioned in the notary documents referring to noble families from the 20-ties of the 17th century while in the 18th century lace was often mentioned in documents referring to families from all social classes. The founding of the Benedictine monastery in 1664 also influenced lace making in Hvar, since the monastery cherished various skills, among them also at that time much appreciated lace making. Also connected with the monastery is till today preserved skill of making lace from agave threads, whereby Hvar is known in the world. Therefore on the mounds beneath the tower walls in the first half of the 19thcentury a kind of agave (Agave Americana) was grown, which provided very good quality threads for lace making. In 1846 a lower Benedictine sister’s school was founded. It was the first school for girls from lower social classes - for the children of fishermen, labourers and craftsmen – where they were - apart from obligatory school subjects instructed also in lace making. For the needs of handicraft the Benedictine sisters ordered from different European countries journals with instructions and templates for different handicrafts and thus also for lace making. A post employee and a writer Theodor Schiff mentions data about lace making from agave threads in the 60-ies of the 19th century and in 1912 Natalie Bruck Auffenberg, a writer and an expert in lace making also mentions lace made of agave thread in her book “Dalmatia and its Folk Art“. Women from Hvar, of different social classes, made lace selling it to travellers and officers who took it with them as a present and souvenir. Already from the last quarter of the 19th century the lace from agave threads was gladly seen at many international exhibitions and in 1900 it was awarded an honorary diploma and a gold medal. The Benedictine sisters pass down, from generation to generation, a demanding procedure of turning agave leaves into silky threads for lace making. They make lace in various techniques of sun lace, ripple, needle lace on netted background, but they developed also their own technique called antique. The lace is made without a scheme, it is a product of imagination and spirituality of the Benedictine sisters. After the Second World War a tourist interest in the preservation of the cultural heritage of Hvar and their interest in buying agave thread lace helped preserve the lace skill of the Benedictine sisters from Hvar. After the independence of the Republic of Croatia this lace became a much appreciated protocol present. In September 2009 the skill of making lace in Hvar, along with the lace making in Lepoglava and on the island of Pag was entered on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Tihana Petrović Leš