LIGHTHOUSES - SAVUDRIJA

Motifs: lighthouses, photos by Andrija Carli The well-indented coastal line like the eastern side of the Adriatic, with numerous bays and coastal protrusions, with almost one thousand islands, small rocky isles and crags, with steep slopes of sheer rock and possible traps of dangerous shallow spots, all this demanded exceptional navigational skills. In the thousand-year-long history of Adriatic navigation, starting from the times of the Greeks and Illyrians, the Romans and the people living along the banks of the river Neretva, the Venetians and the people from Senj, all through to the late 19th century, it was quite usual to embark upon voyages during the day only, in full sunshine and it was only the easier or better-known parts of the route that could be covered at night, working out one’s course by watching the stars. The technical advancement and the need for a speedy and secure transport at the time of the Austrian rule of Dalmatia and Istria stimulated the construction of reliable strongholds in order to facilitate orientation in space. Our part of the Mediterranean was covered by a network of more than twenty night lighthouses, so that it became navigable even in aggravating circumstances during dark and stormy days. These lighthouses were built in specially exposed geographical spots, on sharp promontories and far-away open seas, waste, uninhabited islets, on otherwise inaccessible places and spaces that almost jealously protected their solitude, threatening chance travellers with winds and waves. Many of the lighthouses were therefore built as towers and fortifications, many of them shaped as temples or churches with proud bell-towers. It would definitely not be by chance that the ancient lighthouse on the island Rhodes had been considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Earth. It is equally not unusual that we experience their building as a pledge to Neptune, god of the sea, or as the expression of respect to powerful forces that rule the blue expanses. Indeed, with each of the lighthouses the elementary power of the sea gets tamed and the landscape becomes humanized, a defined human measure is imposed upon the hard-to-tame nature, an important landmark is placed in the field of vision of the seaman and the immenseness of the wide open space is relativized by the recognizable sign on the horizon. For a century and a half, approximately, the Adriatic lighthouses have regularly performed their function by giving direction to the navigation, enabling a dependable exchange of people and goods on the sea, saving at the same time many endangered lives. They continue flashing and blinking, even nowadays they gladly serve some skipper and sailor to make it easier to find his way in the space. Yet, nowadays lighthouses are more monuments of the exciting past than participants of the navigational orientation. However, our lighthouses, both individually and as a lighting archipelago, remain an undisputable aesthetic value of courteous ambience, in a certain way they are a heavenly projection as they represent the brilliant constellation of stars on the sea. Savudrija Savudrija is the oldest Croatian lighthouse built in 1818 on the cape Bašanija near Savudrija. It is 36 metres high and was built according to the design of the architect Pietro Nobile from Trieste. It is situated in the vicinity of the Slovenian border, very near the well-known tennis centre of Umag which is only 9 km away. In 1821 a contract was signed with the eminent architect Matteo Pertsch for the building of an accommodation, a house with a spacious attic and yard as part of the already existing lighthouse. The light signal of this lighthouse spreads to the distance of 17 nautical miles, i.e. the distance of 32 km. There is a picturesque Mediterranean garden with plants characteristic for this part of the Istrian peninsula between the lighthouse building and the sea. There is a story connected with this lighthouse concerning Count Metternich who built it for a beautiful Croatian noblewoman. He met her at the luxurious ball in Vienna and as he was overwhelmed by her beauty he had this lighthouse built where he wanted to start their life together. Unfortunately, on the day the lighthouse had been completed the young noblewoman’s life came to the end and after her death, overwhelmed by anguish and despair, the Count never revisited the lighthouse.