Meštrović lived from 1883 until 1962. Some of his famous monuments are in places I'll be visiting.
Gregory of Nin (Split) |
Račić Mausoleum (Cavtat) |
Petar Petrović Njegoš Mausoleum, on Mount Lovćen, above Kotor, Montenegro |
There are other artists from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Montenegro, but I am having a heck of a time figuring out if any of them are important enough for me to seek out their work while I'm there. And I don't know anything about any composers or novelists or playwrights from the region.
The 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature went to a Bosnian writer, Ivo Andrić. His best-known novel is The Bridge on the Drina, published in 1945. Perhaps I will read it on the trip. (I'm currently reading A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, which is a novel based on Hemingway's own experiences as an ambulance driver in the areas along the Italian and Slovenian border during World War I.)
The Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra (Sarajevska Filharmonija) celebrated its 90th anniversary last year. Seven of its members were killed during the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. But in June 1994, Zubin Mehta led the orchestra in a performance of the Mozart Requiem in the ruined City Hall, and gradually the orchestra has undergone a renewal. They are actually doing a concert one evening when I will be there, and I am attempting to get a ticket (which does not seem to be possible on their web site).
Arts and culture aren't really the point of this trip, though, all things considered. And I typically think of cities and towns in Europe as outdoor museums, filled with beauty to behold around every corner.