< Croatian Miscellany
Croatian Miscellany is an ongoing personal portrait of this southeast European country – its people, traditions, festivals and cultural heritage. It is not intended to be a collection of well-known sights and beautiful views – not that Croatia has any shortage of these – but rather a more intimate glimpse of people and places both on and off the beaten track, and into the daily life of a country that has fascinated this particular photographer for over 20 years.
Folk dancers prepare to go on stage at a folk festival in the village of Kuševac, near Đakovo, Slavonia, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Zvončari ('bell ringers') at Rijeka Carnival, Rijeka, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Sculpture of Vladimir Nazor, Zelengaj, during winter. Zagreb, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Woman selling salted sardine fillets outside the fish market (ribarnica), Zadar, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Local boys during a performance of Tovareća mužika ('donkey music'), Sali, Dugi otok, Croatia. Tovareća mužika is a traditional style of music, performed on cattle horns to a loud drumbeat, which is unique to the town of Sali. © Rudolf Abraham
Th Sculac family from near Motovun, selling traditional hand made baskets at the Subotina festival in September, in the medieval hill town of Buzet, Istria, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Sculpture of the Croatian poet Antun Gustav Matoö (by Ivan Koûari?) by the river Kupa, Sisak, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Saturday morning at the fish market (ribarnica) in Rijeka (European Capital of Culture 2020), Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Traditional tamburica band accompanying the procession of the Ljelje in the village of Gorjani, near Đakovo, Slavonia, Croatia. The tamburica is a traditional stringed instrument of various sizes popular in Croatia, Central and Southeast Europe. Each year on Whitsun young unmarried women and girls dress in traditional costumes, and following mass go in procession from house to house in the village, dancing for their hosts. The Procession of the Ljelje was inscribed on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009. © Rudolf Abraham
Traditional lace-making, Pag, Croatia. Teta Fani Sabalić, age 87, sits outside her house in a narrow street of Pag's old Renaissance town centre. Pag lace-making is inscribed on the UNESCO list of Intagible Cultural Heritage. © Rudolf Abraham
Local man near one of the restored water mills in Krka National Park, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Selling vegetables on the market in Pula, Istria, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Man with kuna (pine marten, the animal after which the Croatian currency is named) at the medieval fair at Medvedgrad, the fortress in Medvednica nature park near Zagreb, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Procession on Assumption Day (Velika Gospa), Pag, Croatia (15 August). Following an all night vigil, a statue of the Virgin Mary is carried from a shrine in the old town to the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the town centre. The women in the centre of the image wear traditional local folk costume including distinctive headdresses edged with Pag lace. © Rudolf Abraham
Josip Zanelli, keyholder of the church of Sveti Rok with its cycle of 16th century frescoes, in the medieval hill town of Dragu?, Istria, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Men playing chess on Britanski trg (British Square), Zagreb, Croatia © Rudolf Abraham
Sinjska Alka, in the town of Sinj, Croatia. The Alka is an annual knightly tournament dating back to 1715, in which riders compete to spear a small metal ring from a galloping horse. The Alka is inscribed on the Unesco list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. © Rudolf Abraham
