The unveiling of the Gundulić

Ivan Gundulic

Ivan Franov Gundulić is the most celebrated Croatian Baroque poet from the Republic of Ragusa. His work embodies central characteristics of Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: religious fervor, insistence on "vanity of this world" and zeal in opposition to "infidels." Gundulić's major...

 monument in Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...

 on May 20, 1893, was a symbolical event in the political history of Dubrovnik, since it brought to the surface the wider tensions between the Croats

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 and the Serbs

Serbs

The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

 in the pre-World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 political struggles in the region.

The preparation

At its session of March 9, 1880, the Municipal Council of Dubrovnik adopted the proposition of the Dubrovnik Serbian Youth of raising a monument for the 300th anniversary of the birth of Gundulić. The mayor of the city at the time was Rafael "Rafo" Pucić. It was decided that a five-member committee would be nominated to oversee the monument's construction. The members were Medo Pucić

Medo Pucic

Medo Pucić, also known as Orsat Pucić, was a writer and politician from Dubrovnik, at the time in the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Dalmatia, who was the first Catholic native of Dubrovnik to declare himself a Serb, believing that the religion was irrelevant for ethnic affiliation, contrary to the...

, Pero Budmani

Pero Budmani

Pero Budmani , like many intellectual Dubrovnik, was a prominent member of the Serb-Catholic circle, linguist and philologist who bravely followed Vuk Stefanović Karadžić's language reforms...

, Ivo Kaznačić, Mato Vodopić

Mato Vodopic

Mato Vodopić was the bishop of Dubrovnik from July 3, 1882 until his death in 1893, and wrote poems for some special occasions, and was a storyteller and collector of folk ballads...

 and Luko Zore

Luko Zore

Luko Zore , Luko involved into a Serb-Catholic circle, with all the big intelectuals of the XIX cenrury in Dubrovnik and Montenegrin philologist and Slavist, and was one of the leading opposition fighting against the foreign forces of Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy in Dubrovnik.At that time...

.

In 1882, it was decided that 11 florins

Austro-Hungarian gulden

The Gulden or forint was the currency of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1754 and 1892 when it was replaced by the Krone/korona as part of the introduction of the gold standard. In Austria, the Gulden was initially divided into 60 Kreuzer, and in Hungary, the...

 will be required for the monument's erection. The construction was financed by King of Serbia Aleksandar Obrenović

Aleksandar Obrenovic

  Not to be confused with Alexander I of Yugoslavia.Alexander I or Aleksandar Obrenović was king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Queen Draga, were assassinated by a group of Army officers, led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević-Accession:In 1889 Alexander's father, King Milan,...

 and among the others investors were Niko Pucić

Niko Pucic

Niko Pucić de Zagorien was a writer and politician from Dalmatia. He was born in Dubrovnik in 1820. He was the brother of Medo Pucić, another well-known politician....

, who gave 5 florins, and Vlaho DeGiulli, who gave 10 florins.

The monument was erected on May 20, 1893, in Dubrovnik's largest square, Poljana. It was made by the Croatian sculptor Ivan Rendić

Ivan Rendic

Ivan Rendić was a Croatian sculptor.He began sculpting early on in life, thanks to the stoneworking tradition of the island of Brač, where he was raised. He finished arts school in Venice in 1871 and afterwards became a part of the Fioretine sculpting atelier...

. The official unveiling was scheduled for the next month.

The unveiling

The unveiling, like all the official celebrations in that period, was not only cultural, but also strongly national and political. The members of the Croatian Party of Rights and the Croatian People's Party together tried to bring to Dubrovnik as many Croats as possible from various Croat regions to give the Croatian national and political character to the celebration. On the other hand, the members of the Serb Party tried to gather as many Serbs as possible to give a Serbian flavor to the celebration.

It was officially revealed on Sunday, July 26, 1893, by the last male member of the family, Baron Frano Getaldić-Gundulić

Frano Getaldic-Gundulic

Baron Frano Getaldić-Gundulić or Francesco Ghetaldi-Gondola was the first son of Šišmundo Getaldić-Gundulić and Malvina Uršula Bosdari. Getaldić-Gundulić was a member of the Knights of St. John from 1889 until the death of the Mayor of Dubrovnik. He was decorated with the Cross of Devotion on...

 (see House of Gundulić). The celebration included more people from outside Dubrovnik than the citizens.

The distinguished Croatian guests included writers Eugen Kumičić

Eugen Kumicic

Eugen Kumičić was a prominent Croatian writer and politician.-Biography:Kumičić was born in Brseč, Mošćenička Draga , a small town in Istria, then part of the Austrian Empire....

, August Harambašić

August Harambašic

August Harambašić was a Croatian writer, poet, publisher, politician and translator from the 19th century.He was born in Donji Miholjac, and studied law in Vienna and Zagreb. Politically he followed the sharp line of Ante Starčević's Croatian Party of Rights, which landed him in jail several times...

, Stjepan Buzolić, Rikard Katalinić Jeretov, Ante Tresić Pavičić, scientists Franjo Rački

Franjo Racki

Franjo Rački was a Croatian historian, politician and writer. He compiled important collections of old Croatian diplomatic and historical documents, wrote some pioneering historical works, and was a key founder of the Yugoslavian Academy of Sciences and Arts.-Historian:Rački was born in Fužine,...

, Tadija Smičiklas

Tadija Smiciklas

Tadija Smičiklas was a Croatian historian and politician.Smičiklas finished gymnasium in Zagreb at the Greek Catholic seminary, and went on to study history and geography in the then imperial capital Vienna...

 and Frane Bulić

Frane Bulic

Frane Bulić was a Croatian priest, archeologist, and historian.Bulić was born in Vranjic near Split and studied theology in Zadar and then classical philology and archeology in Vienna...

, the sculptor Ivan Rendić

Ivan Rendic

Ivan Rendić was a Croatian sculptor.He began sculpting early on in life, thanks to the stoneworking tradition of the island of Brač, where he was raised. He finished arts school in Venice in 1871 and afterwards became a part of the Fioretine sculpting atelier...

 (who made the monument), the composer Franjo Kuhač

Franjo Kuhac

Franjo Ksaver Kuhač was a piano teacher, choral conductor, and comparative musicologist who studied Croatian folk music. Kuhač did a great deal of field work in this area, collecting and publishing 1,600 folk songs...

, politicians Miho Klaić

Miho Klaić

Miho Klaić was a Croatian politician and a leader of the Croatian revival in Dalmatia.He obtained a PhD in architecture in Padua, Italy. He was a member of the National Party and was elected as member of the Diet of Dalmatia in the National Committee...

, Gajo Filomen Bulat, Juraj Biankini, Ante Trumbić

Ante Trumbic

Ante Trumbić was a Croatian politician in the early 20th century. He was one of the key politicians in the creation of a Yugoslav state....

, Josip Frank

Josip Frank

Josip Frank was a Croatian lawyer and politician, a noted representative of the Party of Rights and the Pure Party of Rights in the Croatian Parliament, and a vocal advocate of Croatian national independence in Austria-Hungary.- Early life :Frank was born into a Croatian Jewish family, and he...

, Vjekoslav Spinčić

Vjekoslav Spincic

Vjekoslav Spinčić was a Croatian politician from Istria.After studying theology in Gorica and Trieste, he was ordained a priest in 1872. Afterwards, he continued studies in history and geography in Prague and Vienna...

, Milan Amruš

Milan Amruš

Milan Emil Amruš was a Croatian physician, lawyer and politician, a two-term mayor of Zagreb.Amruš was born in Brod na Savi, where he completed grammar school. He studied at the gymnasiums in Vinkovci and Zagreb, and then enrolled at the Josephinum, the academy for military doctors in Vienna...

, many Croatian representatives from the parliaments of Dalmatia

Dalmatia

Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....

, Istria

Istria

Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...

 and Croatia and the imperial

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 council, as well as the mayors of Croatian municipalities.

The distinguished Serbian guests were less numerous and included poets Jovan Jovanović Zmaj

Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj

Jovan Jovanović Zmaj was one of the best-known Serbian poets. He was a physician by profession, like his literary predecessor writer Jovan Stejić ....

 and Jovan Sundečić

Jovan Sundecic

Jovan Sundečić , was a Serbian poet from Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina, priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church and a secretary of Prince Nikola I of Montenegro...

, parliamentary representatives Đorđe Vojnović and Đuro Vukotić, as well as the mayors of Serbian municipalities. The representatives of the Austrian regime

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 - the Dalmatian governor Emil David and the regional head Ambroz Marojčić, did not have a place of honor because of the anti-Austrian sentiments in Dubrovnik, so they had to stand in the crowd.

Contemporary accounts

At that time, the editor of the Dubrovnik newspaper Crvena Hrvatska

Crvena Hrvatska

Crvena Hrvatska was a weekly Croatian Party of Rights political newspaper that spread the ideology of Ante Starčević in Dubrovnik, Dalmatia and that existed in 1890-1899 Austria-Hungary....

(lit. Red Croatia

Red Croatia

Red Croatia , is a historical term used for the southeastern parts of Roman Dalmatia and some other territories, in including part of present-day Montenegro, greater part of Albania, the Herzegovina part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and southeastern Croatia, stretching across the Adriatic Sea.Another...

) was young Frano Supilo

Frano Supilo

Frano Supilo was a Croatian politician and journalist. He was a major political figure in the twenty years preceding World War I....

, who would go on to become one of the major figures in the pre-World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 Croatian politics.

Supilo said of the event:

The celebration in Gundulić's honor showed the difference between the Croats and the Serbs. The Gundulić celebration showed that Dubrovnik is not a Serbian city, that the citizens of Dubrovnik are not Serbs. Twenty-five municipalities of southern Dalmatia clearly said at the Gundulić celebration that they are Croatian municipalities, that the people of southern Dalmatia is the Croatian people. We know Serbs do not like to hear that, but it is their problem. We know they do not like that they were received coldly in Dubrovnik, that 5,000 citizens of Dubrovnik entered the city with Croatian flags, chanting: "Long live Croatia!". Maybe they will be comforted by the fact that the Italianate party from Zadar shouted "Evviva i Serbi!", which is the adequate reward for their moral defeat in Dubrovnik.

Sources

In Croatian

Croatian language

Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...

:

• Ivo Perić, Mladi Supilo (Young Supilo), Zagreb, 1996
• Newspaper Crvena Hrvatska (Red Croatia), Dubrovnik, No. 32, August 12, 1893, pp. 1–2.
• Ivo Banac, Dubrovački eseji (Dubrovnik essays), Dubrovnik, 1992