Svetvinčenat through the prism of the first National Forum of Heritage Interpreters

The trip to Svetvinčenat for the first National Forum of Cultural Interpreters led me to the place I first heard about in March 2018 at the Place2Go tourism fair in Zagreb. Behind the Istrian stand there was a friendly team who explained to me that I had to come to Istria. In a pleasant conversation they gave me various materials that I still keep. Who knows, maybe it was the team from Istra Inspirit, which now, together with Manuela Hrvatin, our coordinator for Croatia at Interpret Europe, hosted the first National Forum of Heritage Interpreters in Croatia! 

View of the town square with a well seen from the Morosini-Grimani castle 

And here I am, I came to Svetvinčenat, a city that seems to have been created for telling stories, a city that guards several wells in such a small area. This historical place has everything to show, its beautiful square,  narrow streets, churches, castle….

Although the place is dominated by the castle, we are amazed by the multitude of wells that are densely located in such a small town. Every now and then we come across places with a couple of stairs that lead to a paved square, in fact they are cisterns with beautiful stone crowns.

Elevated cistern with stone crown 

Amazing, the first person I met when I arrived at the first National Forum of Heritage Interpreters was one Barbara, and she happened to be the one who described all the wells in Svetvinčenat in her blog! Wells and wells, Istria, people, the circle of meetings and events gets a new dimension.

A couple of stairs brings us to a well 

A beautiful well is located on the main square, which offers a view of all the beautiful buildings that together give Svetvinčenat the atmosphere of a real Renaissance city. From the square you enter Kaštel, the town lodge, there is also the main parish church, and a number of beautiful houses.

City lodge

Renaissance house

I couldn't walk around town for long, our Forum had very interesting lectures and I didn't want to miss a single one! But I was lucky that part of the event took place in the castle of the Morosini Grimani family, which gives this place a special Venetian character. Walking along the walls, climbing to the tower and splendid view of the town made my day completely fulfilled.)

Castle Morosini-Grimani 

Svetvinčenat, Savičenta, San Vincenti, however you pronounce the name of the place, you enter in the field of linguistics, as there you can hear one very unique language, the Istro-Venetian, which from this year has become part of our intangible heritage.

Talking about Istra, I like to say, Istra is like a continent, a whole world for itself. It is the largest Croatian peninsula which on the very north enters into Italian (38 km2) and Slovenian (386 km2) territory. On remaining 3132 km2 belonging to Croatia there starts magic of historical tradition in building, crafts, custom, language….. The above mentioned Istro-Venetian language is spoken by inhabitants of all three countries, but there is one more language in Istra, the Istro-Romanian spoken by only few local communities. One of them is in Šušnjevica where you can visit Ecomuseum. 

Walking around Svetvinčenat I couldn’t miss the cemetery, and it seems to me that the whole story of a town started there. 

On the site of the cemetery there was a Benedictine Abbey, around which the town started to grow. The church of Saint Vincent is still there guarding well the whole story.

On the graveyard, the historical site 

An evening event of our Forum teleported us into Middle Ages, dark period when witches were burned. We admired the artistic beauty but were terrified of the whole story. We are lucky to live in a world of general understanding of each other and of the universe.

Istra Inspirit inspired us for better communications and they made us aware of complexity of our working activities in presenting our heritage. There is much more what we saw and what we experienced.

Hereby I want to make a conclusion with one interesting coincidence that happened to me.  During my walking hour through the town I bumped into the hotel Foscari. I don’t know what was the main clue for the owners to give such a name to their hotel, but I know that the Doge Foscari is very important in presentation of my thematic tour in Split, made in honour of our great poet Marko Marulić.

Bad & breakfast at Foscari’s 

Istra remains Terra Magica.

All materijal, including photos & video clips by Darka