“The Challenge of the Cravat – The Cravat as Croatia’s
Contribution to Global Culture� exhibition closed July 28 in the
Vienna’s famous Porcia baroque period palace. This is an international
Croatian multimedia project in its third year that is promoting the
Cravat, also known as the necktie, in European and world capitals
as a symbol both of Croatia and of modern civilisation. This year’s
global tour of the “Challenge of the Cravat� exhibition, organised by
Academia Cravatica, a non-profit institution, and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and European Integration, and held under the auspices
of the Ministry of Culture, kicked off in Poland where it was held in
the ancient university city of Krakow before moving on the Gdansk.
The exhibition leads visitors through the history of the
emergence of one of the basic symbols of modern civilisation, offering
them a fascinating account of Croatia as the Homeland of the
Cravat. Croatian Ambassador to Austria Zoran JaÅ¡ić addressed the
many leading figures of Vienna’s and Austria’s political, economic
and cultural life, and the many diplomats from the countries of central
and eastern Europe that gathered at the opening of the exhibition,
saying that the “Challenge of the Cravat� promotes the cultural
characteristics and identity of Croatia, always a part of the western
European cultural milieu, on its path to European Union membership.
It is just as hard to imagine a Viennese ball without cravats as
it is to imagine the male part of the world without them. They are a
symbol of Croatia and of modern civilisation says Marijan BuÅ¡ić, the
Director of Academia Cravatica and the initiator of the “Challenge of
the Cravat� project.
Along with an abundance of exhibits presented in a bilingual
German-Croatian catalogue, edited by Academy-educated painter
Igor Gustini, about sixty selected works by authors from many
countries were exhibited, inspired by the cravat, giving the exhibition
an international character, and the latest video installation only further
enhance its multimedia aspect. A collection of cravats, scarves
and shawls of the Croata brand bearing motifs from Croatian culture
– the medieval Croatian braid and the Glagolitic script – was presented
at the exhibition that , as it did in Poland, attracted the attention
of the Austrian press.
After the closing of the Vienna exhibition it is scheduled
to be held in Bulgaria in September before moving on the Russia in
December.

Academia Cravatica
e-mail: info@academia-cravatica.hr
web site: http://www.academia-cravatica.hr

Croatian National Tourist Board
e-mail: info@htz.hr
web site: http://www.croatia.hr


taken from journalists web newsletter 08/2006 http://press.croatia.hr/datoteke/2585.pdf