British-Croatian Society 2024/25

Our events programme has continued to flourish along with our information service ensuring that people do not miss events relating to Croatia that are taking place in the UK. Some of our events over the year are detailed below.

The Society organised an exhibition entitled SPLITS showing the work by Stephanie Douet who had travelled to Split with her painting gear in a backpack, re-enacting the Grand Tour journeys of historic artists such as Edward Lear, Robert Adam and Lord Byron. The city had exercised a curious attraction for her since she studied Roman architecture at university.

Roaming the ancient city sketching, snapping, reading and chatting, other fascinating subjects became absorbed into Douet’s project such as the elaborately embroidered costumes in the Folk Museum, social housing and monuments, the study of ‘affordance’ and archaic Roman tomb sculpture.

The Society organised a retrospective of the photographic works of Gordana Johnson who has been winning prizes for her photographs since a young girl in Split and is recognised as a distinguished photographer. Her retrospective at Lauderdale House was packed out with enthusiastic admirers of her work.

Malcolm Hardy is a tireless researcher on the British in the Eastern Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars and gave a talk to the Society on the occasion of the publication of the omnibus edition of “The British in the Adriatic” by Archaeopress. One can easily forget when holidaying on the Croatian islands that the British were there two centuries ago and in some cases left their mark.

John East came to the Society to present his outstanding photographs of twentieth century architecture in Zagreb and Split following the British-Croatian Society / C20 Society tours. Both cities have splendid architecture captured in John’s photographs. The Society is organising a further twentieth century architectural tour in 2026, this time to Pula and Istria. This will include the mining town of Rasa, the Italian post office in Pula and the hotels of Rovinj.

There has always been enthusiasm for the Society’s annual dinner. This year we moved it from November to March, the new date proving popular. The dinner is always a sumptuous affair and this one was held at the prestigious Army and Navy Club on Pall Mall. The Club was founded in 1837 and the Duke of Wellington was the first patron. It is one of London’s most prestigious private clubs, situated in the heart of Mayfair with views over St James’s Square.

A regular part of the annual dinner is our raffle to support a charity in Croatia. This year £875 was raised for the conservation and restoration of the mural by Branko Šenoa at the Museum of August Šenoa, Zagreb that dates back to 1934. This conservation work was completed by Professor Neva Pološki, a specialist in wall-painting restoration.

A very special event in May was a visit to the British Library where we were given a personal  guided tour of the fabulous Croatian collection held by the library. Participants were surprised that they were able to handle priceless editions from the 15th to the 19th centuries, demonstrating the evolution of Croatian language, culture, and printing. The British Library is free, open to all and keen to welcome visitors to see their collection of Croatian books.

A different books event was the opportunity to see three contemporary authors in discussion with Suzi Curtis about their books recently translated into English: Red Water by Jurica Pavicic, In Late Summer by Magdalena Blazevic and The Inspector by Dragan Velikic (represented by his translator Christina Zoric). One of the best ways for people in the UK to experience Croatia is through Croatian books translated into English and we are grateful to the three publishing houses present on this occasion for the work they do.

Heather Malling and Radovan Zivanovic came to recount an amazing story, In 1944 a Royal Air Force navigator found himself in the worst of all situations, on the ground and injured in occupied territory. Fortunately, he was rescued, his wounds treated and then helped to escape, travelling from Klanjec to Voćin.

When his daughter, Heather Malling, decided to investigate further, no one could have predicted the journey that led her to her father’s bomber crash site, an eye witness and traces of his journey across Croatia. Heather has written a book about the experience, Joining the Caterpillar Club. Heather was fortunate to have the help of Radovan Zivanovic who has a passion for uncovering WW2 crash sites, identifying those who flew in these aircraft and connecting families with their past.

Heather found a wonderful welcome from people in this remote part of Croatia and her tale speaks wonders for the hospitality of Croats.

Our annual calendarCroatia photographic exhibition and calendar produced a record number of entries as well as an outstanding calendar. The 2025 calendar was launched at the embassy where a wide selection of photographs were shown.