The FIRST NATIONAL CULTURE TOURISM DAY was held on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007, with the aim of intensifying links between culture and tourism, giving the cultural offer the attention it deserves and improving tourism products.
The event was co-organised by the Culture Bureau of the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Primorje-Gorski kotar Tourist Board in collaboration with Primorje-Gorski kotar County, the City of Rijeka Tourist Board and member tourist boards.
A series of culture events were organised in the frame of the first national Culture Tourism Day in the Kvarner region that a broadly based audience could enjoy, from the local inhabitants to tourist-visitors.
As the event’s host, the city of Rijeka, along with the many attractions accompanying the first national Culture Tourism Day, opened the doors of its museums free of charge to all visitors.
There was a lavish program for the already traditional St. Vitus Day events, and one of the top attractions was a parade by the Crossbow Archers of Rab on Rijeka’s central Korzo downtown promenade.
Opatija was geared entirely towards the Greetings From Opatija - K.u.K. Postcard event that revives the glorious times of Opatija’s tradition in tourism, while the Juraj Sporer art pavilion is featuring the World Exhibition of Small & Miniature Ceramics.
For the first national Culture Tourism Day Kastav offered free visits to the Kastav region museum collection and the Barrel Maker’s and Coppersmith’s collections, in nearby Rukavac people could visit the Bell Maker’s museum, while in Baska you could visit, free of charge, the renowned St. Lucy complex in Jurandvor, the Heritage Museum and the archaeological park.
Crikvenica had an open multimedia exhibition entitled Ad Turres - Crikvenica featuring the archaeological find of the antiquity period ceramics workshop of Sekstus Metilius Maksimus, Kostrena organized the Zurkovo 2007 visual arts colony, and in Punta an exhibition of art photographs by Drazen Sokcevic was opened.
In Mali Losinj an exhibition of paintings was opened under the moniker Navigare necesse est… with museum and archive material from the private collection of Albert Cosulich, the last shipowner from the famed Mali Losinj Kozulic family of mariners.
For its visitors Rab organised a promenade performance of the Rapski tanac Culture & Arts Society, while Cabar organized a free expert tour of Castle Zrinski in Cabar for its pupils, and organised a workshop on the topic of The Cultural & Historical Content of the City of Cabar.
An of course, gastronomy is an unavoidable part of both the tourism and cultural offer. In Matulji select restaurants took part in the Street of Local Food event, while in Lovran the Lovran Cherry Days were in full swing that, along with an offer of cherries, cherry sweets, a 10 metre long cherry strudel enjoyed by the visitors at the closing ceremony, also included an offer of indigenous souvenirs and performances by well known folklore ensembles.
The first national Culture Tourism Day is an encouragement to hold similar days in the future, every year, and in so doing further reaffirm the culture offer as an important segment of the overall tourism offer of both the Kvarner area and all of Croatia.
source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr