For the 13th year in a row, the Croatian Museum Society, in cooperation with a number of Croatian museums and other heritage institutions, hosted the annual Museum Night. Visitors were able to look at the various exhibitions and museums for free and long in the night. This year’s theme was ‘Museums & Sport’ considering that in the winter of 2018, the European Men’s Handball Championship as well as the XXIII Winter Olympics will occupy everyone’s attention. The emphasis was on the existing and new sport collections. Especially on the recognition and the creation of sensitivity to its cultural value. Sports heritage is not adequately represented and this event aims to further stimulate discussions on the issues of sports collections and museums in Croatia.
Upon this occasion Museums and galleries of Konavle organized 3 different sport presentations: bocce in Konavle county museum, speleology in Department of archaeology and water polo in House Bukovac.
Konavle county museum invited Mr Luko Hendić, a long time bocce player and a member of the Executive Board of the Croatian Bocce Federation to present the rules of bocce play. Bocce are the oldest sport in Konavle that is still popular among the locals which is confirmed by numerous registered clubs. In addition to the historical review of bocce our guest explained sporting dimension of this traditional entertainment and introduced us to the trends and techniques of the training. After the presentation the youngest participants made paper bocce balls, decorated in their own “club” colours.
Department of archaeology organised presentation of speleology and local speleological sites. Anita Trojanović, member of Speleological department Željezničar (SOŽ), Željka Janjanin, member of Croatian mountaineering society Sniježnica (HPD) and Jelena Beželj, head of the Department of archaeology presented recent speleological researches in Konavle region and the connection between speleology and archaeology. For the youngest participants an interactive workshop was organized. Members from HPD Sniježnica demonstrated how to descend into cave, which equipment is used in speleology and why is it important to know how to tie a proper knot.
House Bukovac started the Night of museums with children’s workshop where they learnt how to make cloth balls to revive the traditional local game called „Na pimpla“. Afterwards Vinko Rožić, author of the monograph on Cavtat water polo „Pozlaćen zrakom sunca“, led the public panel “The story of Cavtat water polo”. Honoured by the presence of one of the greatest local water polo players Pero Kušelj, Goran Sukno, Jakša Bošković, Pavo Pulić, Matijana Staničić, Miho Bošković and Pero Jovica, visitors “walked” through the long Cavtat water polo history, from the first unofficial competitions in 1922 to the latest greatest successes.
