Page 183 - Dark Shades of Istria
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8.6 Discussion on History-Centric Dark Commemorative Events in Istria
and the exceptional importance of the Homeland War for the people in
Croatia in general, also attract more visitors, which is a prerequisite for
highlighting them from the tourist perspective. However, with respect
to all the analysed examples, it can be concluded that only the historical
background itself does not have a decisive influence on the number and
age structure of visitors.
Some basis for a substantive answer to rq2 can be found in the answers
to rq1, as the visitors of contemporary events were discussed there. Thus,
the memorial exhibition of Bl. Francesco Bonifacio in Buje (as an exam-
ple of ‘dark exhibitions’ defined by Stone, 2006) and the Solemn Requiem
Mass in Lanišće (as ‘sites of individual or mass deaths,’ the special dark
tourism example defined by Seaton, 1996) – despite previous expecta-
tions – resulted in being marginal or irrelevant in terms of tourism. Their
programme related to remembrance, and a different ideological and cul-
tural background was evidently not interesting enough. In addition, the
local community has a partly or completely inadequate tourism infras-
tructure, e.g. Lanišće, Kućibreg, if we do not consider additional factors
that we did not investigate, and are probably part of the problem, i.e. lack
of motivation, financial resources and knowledge of tourism. The lack of
tourism infrastructure is otherwise characteristic of ‘dark shrines,’ which
arise in the aftermath of conflict (Stone, 2006, pp. 155–156). Hence, for
religious events (or the religious component of the events), the people’s
perception of faith/religion should also be illuminated. Research results
of Baloban et al. (2019, pp. 11, 34, 99) show that Istrian people attribute
significantly less importance to religion and church than people in other
Croatian regions.²³ Thus, these factors further prove their marginalisa-
tion/irrelevance from the aspect of tourism, although the event in Kući-
breg, which was organised in similar circumstances, has a large num-
ber of visitors, which means that the (negative) effect of the above-men-
tioned factors cannot be generalised. However, in such circumstances,
the preservation of memory in the local environment were/are the main
purpose of the events.
In August 2018, the religious dark commemorative event in Svetvinče-
nat²⁴ – the town with tourist infrastructure – attracted local and many
other visitors/believers, including pilgrims. As mentioned in sub-chapter
‘Concelebrated Mass in Svetvinčenat’ (p. 166), this event cannot yet be
²³ The data cover the Croatian part of the Upper Adriatic.
²⁴ In the dark tourism context it can be classified the same way as the event in Lanišće.
183
and the exceptional importance of the Homeland War for the people in
Croatia in general, also attract more visitors, which is a prerequisite for
highlighting them from the tourist perspective. However, with respect
to all the analysed examples, it can be concluded that only the historical
background itself does not have a decisive influence on the number and
age structure of visitors.
Some basis for a substantive answer to rq2 can be found in the answers
to rq1, as the visitors of contemporary events were discussed there. Thus,
the memorial exhibition of Bl. Francesco Bonifacio in Buje (as an exam-
ple of ‘dark exhibitions’ defined by Stone, 2006) and the Solemn Requiem
Mass in Lanišće (as ‘sites of individual or mass deaths,’ the special dark
tourism example defined by Seaton, 1996) – despite previous expecta-
tions – resulted in being marginal or irrelevant in terms of tourism. Their
programme related to remembrance, and a different ideological and cul-
tural background was evidently not interesting enough. In addition, the
local community has a partly or completely inadequate tourism infras-
tructure, e.g. Lanišće, Kućibreg, if we do not consider additional factors
that we did not investigate, and are probably part of the problem, i.e. lack
of motivation, financial resources and knowledge of tourism. The lack of
tourism infrastructure is otherwise characteristic of ‘dark shrines,’ which
arise in the aftermath of conflict (Stone, 2006, pp. 155–156). Hence, for
religious events (or the religious component of the events), the people’s
perception of faith/religion should also be illuminated. Research results
of Baloban et al. (2019, pp. 11, 34, 99) show that Istrian people attribute
significantly less importance to religion and church than people in other
Croatian regions.²³ Thus, these factors further prove their marginalisa-
tion/irrelevance from the aspect of tourism, although the event in Kući-
breg, which was organised in similar circumstances, has a large num-
ber of visitors, which means that the (negative) effect of the above-men-
tioned factors cannot be generalised. However, in such circumstances,
the preservation of memory in the local environment were/are the main
purpose of the events.
In August 2018, the religious dark commemorative event in Svetvinče-
nat²⁴ – the town with tourist infrastructure – attracted local and many
other visitors/believers, including pilgrims. As mentioned in sub-chapter
‘Concelebrated Mass in Svetvinčenat’ (p. 166), this event cannot yet be
²³ The data cover the Croatian part of the Upper Adriatic.
²⁴ In the dark tourism context it can be classified the same way as the event in Lanišće.
183
