With Dubrovnik’s rise as a blockbuster filming set, is its heritage coming under threat?
I was criticised for daring to suggest that with Game of Thrones, now Star Wars and possibly soon James Bond, that we in Dubrovnik may slowly be selling our souls, or at the very least letting things slip. I understand that criticism and I was happy that people disagreed with my thoughts, it gave me some reassurance that perhaps I was getting ahead of myself and being paranoid, however it seems my fears weren’t totally ungrounded.
Antonio Grabovac, a reader of DuList.hr, sent the Dubrovnik based news portal photos of very disturbing and very obvious damage Orlando’s column on March 1, 2016, an extremely old statue which sits in Dubrovnik’s old town, just in front of the Church of St. Blaise. Along with the saddening images, Antonio pointed out that he has sent them to the Ministry of Culture.
Antonio wrote: ”While city officials are constantly talking about Mercedes, Star Wars, millions and a rich city, they can’t see what is going on under their noses. The brightest parts of our history are disappearing, the same historical riches that bring masses to our city. Damage to Orlando’s column is so bad that it is obvious to me as a layman that his days are numbered, and soon he will need urgent repairs and conservation.”
Let us hope this is the first and last article I or anyone else writes about this.
