Restoration works on Cathedral Sveti Marko  in Korcula Old Town has started in Korcula few days ago.

The project that is worth about 300 thousand Euros will include cleaning of the facade of Sv Marko Cathedral, its rosette and Sv Marko’s church tower.

The works are carried out by restoration firm Firentinac from Trogir which already erected scaffolding around the cathedral.

The project is financed by Venetian Heritage foundation, a not-for-profit organization based in the United States, with offices in New York and Venice. They already did similar projects in Dubrovnik, Trogir and Split.

Under close supervision of Monuments and Fine Arts Office of Dubrovnik, the master restorer in charge of the project is Vanessa Minuto Buble.

Have a look at another photo bellow and see my Catherdal Sv Marko video channel

Back in November, when I wrote about this new thing that is going on in Korcula (see my post with map and plans here) some readers were sceptical about project being finished by next summer.

Now, few months later, it seems that people who are working on it are pretty serious about finishing it in time –  Click on photos to see large images:

A well known Lumbarda’s  artist Stipe Nobilo will have an exhibition in Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Vela Luka.  The exhibition titled “Otok” (meaning ‘An Island’), will show his recent paintings of Lumbarda’s as well as Korcula Archipelago landscapes. The curators of exhibition are Rada Dragojevic Cosovic and Valerija Jurjevic. The opening night is on 27.01.2012 (a traditional Museums Night in Croatia).

Korcula has voted for Croatia to become 28th member of the European Union as yesterdays referendum delivers an overwhelming yes vote.

According to izbori.hr, the official referendum site, the figures are as follows:

• Korčula Town -  turnout 50.38%, Yes 54.23% No 44.90%
• Lumbarda  – turnout 53.62% , Yes 43.58% , No 56.10%
• Smokvica – turnout 56.51%, Yes 59.39%, No 40.40%
• Blato  – turnout 50.44%, Yes 63.9%, No 34.57%
• Vela Luka - turnout  51.99% , Yes 60.01%, No 39.24%
• Orebić - turnout 42.99% , Yes 61.67%, No 37.89%

Although Korculans voted in favour of joining the EU in a referendum, as you can see from the figures, the voting turnout was low, barely scratching half the electorate.

The largest Eurosceptic community is in Lumbarda while Blato has the largest Euro-enthusiasts community.

The solid yes vote was higher than what had been predicted in the opinion polls… Good morning Europe

My brand new discovery of another interesting old image of Korcula Town is here!  

The image is actually a scan of old postcard printed  in 1930′s. The postcard has description saying “Korcula – Obala i Setaliste” meaning “Korcula – harbour and promenade” which is also translated in Italian as “Curzola – La Marina“.

Hotel Korcula is on the very left side of the image, shown as two storey building (see Hotel Korcula as one storey building).

On the other side is a large building which was demolished 1950′s. In front of it is some kind of wooden building which reminds me of a large garden shed (storage). My guess is it was used to store various supplies delivered by ferries to Korcula (called “parobrod” at the time).

The slopes of Forteca are completely bare and very different than nowadays. Riva (Harbour) is almost empty (not as here in 1950′s , nor here, recently) with just few man walking around…

See more images of Old Korcula in these two albums: Old photos of Korcula 1 + Old photos of Korcula 2

• Walking Route from Korcula Town via Dracevica (Zrnovo) to Gornje Blato and Lumbarda - includes route description, photos and detailed map
• Cycling Route: Lumbarda – Kosovo – Gornje Blato- Humac- Javic – Lumbarda - includes route description and detailed map
• Beach Zakrjan info and some photos taken back in September

The poster shows  a collage of several fragments of  Dubrovnik sights - town walls tower, columns of Knezev Dvor and Onofrijeva Fontana.

A collage also includes drawings of troubadours and the town guard in traditional, medieval costumes.

This performance of folk dances was held at the summer stage (ljetna pozornica), Moreska being just one of the performances – others were Podkolo from Konavle, Kumpanija from Blato, Lastovsko kolo from Lastovo, Kolo Bokeške mornarice from Kotor, Montenegro and Lindo from Dubrovnik.

As Dubrovnik Summer Festival started in 1950, my guess is this poster is one of the first posters made for the festival. (click on photo to see larger image)

The first part of this project – streets on the eastern side of Korcula Old Town is finished, uploaded and ready for exploration.

Each page includes photos of the particular street as well as its location on the map of the town. A list of streets located on the western part of the town is to follow.. (Update – other streets are added)

Have a look at the list and click on links for maps and photos:

• Ulica Kanonika Antuna Rozanovića
• Ulica Sv.Roka
• Ulica Korculanskih Bratovstina
• Ulica Pomenica
• Ulica Biskupa Luke Tolentica
• Ulica Depolo
• Ulica Don Pavla Pose
• Ulica Kalafata
• Ulica Biskupije
• Ulica Marka Andrijica
• Ulica Jakova Banicevica
• Ulica Don Iva Matijace Opata
• Ulica Kaporova
• Ulica Dobrotvornosti
• Žitnica
• Ulica Od Teatra
• Ulica Giunio
• Ulica Ismaelis
• Ulica dr. Dinka Miroševića
• Ulica Rafa Arneri
• Ulica Vinka Foretića
• Trg Svetog Marka – the main square in Korcula Old town
• Trg Antuna i Stjepana Radića – square at the very entrance in the Old Town
• Ulica Korčulanskog statuta 1214 – central street in the Old Town

So, from now on when referred to winds I will use following terms :

• Tramuntana (for North Wind)
• Gregal (for North East wind)
• Levanat ( for East wind)
• Siloko ( for South East Wind)
• Ostro (for South Wind)
• Lebic (for South West Wind)
• Pulenat (for West Wind)
• Maestral (for North West wind)

I still dont’ get it why there is no Bura in this windrose :-/ , so as soon as I work that one out, the post will be updated :)

About windrose (from Wikipedia): A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West – and their intermediate points.

Further info about winds around Korcula is here + Photo gallery of weather around Korcula

The 2011 Croatian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, two days ago, to elect members to the Croatian Parliament (Hrvatski Sabor). More info on Croatian parliamentary election 2011 on :

• The Guardian’s article
• FT Article
• Telegraph’s Article