Hajduk is not the only association from Dalmatia that received an invitation to a gala lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron. Representatives of the Alka Knights Society received an invitation on Wednesday to join the French president at the Esplanade table in Zagreb!
“We are extremely honored by the invitation, and we will gladly respond. As urgent obligations personally prevented me, I decided that Dr. Ivan Nasić, secretary of the Alka Knights Society, would go to the festive lunch. In the ceremonial uniform, President Macron would be greeted by Alkar Andrija Hrgović and Alkar boy Ivan Vučković. We hope to welcome President Macron’s birthday in France as well,” the president of the Alka Knights Society, Dr. Stipe Jukić, said for Slobodna Dalmacija.
Jukić’s hope of meeting with President Macron in France is about the expected presentation of the Sinj Alka in Versailles. The Alka’s first visit to France was agreed in detail before the Croatian presidency of the EU, as part of Croatia’s cultural and historical presentation to Europe. In addition to the ceremonial parade of the entire Alka procession in the area of the historic French castle, the Alkars were to demonstrate the course of their knightly game.
Unfortunately, this did not happen due to epidemiological measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, as the French hosts liked the idea, the invitation remained open as soon as the conditions were created. In Sinj, they reckon that if the pandemic subsides, the Alkars could parade through Versailles in the spring of next year, and then, they believe, they would undoubtedly be able to greet the main host, President Macron.
“The Alka Knights Society was founded in 1715, and today it acts as an association of citizens.
The main activity of the Society is to organize the Alka Tournament of Sinj. A great number of volunteers care about the work of the Society (Assembly, Governing Board, Supervisory Board, Court of Honour). The members of the Society are exclusively of local origin. The Alka Knights Society is the owner of two trading companies – Alka marketing d.o.o. and Alkarska ergela d.o.o.
In 1979 the Alka Knights Society collection of uniforms, equipment and weapons was declared a monument of the highest category. In 2007 the Alka of Sinj was entered in the Register of Croatian Cultural Monuments, and on 16th of November, 2010 it was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” reads the Alka website.
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