Ghost of yesterday's might is today's chic.
Power to inspire on individual level.
Size may impress, but it is agility that secures survival.
Small daily routine that hides the fear of the unknown.
Simple life behind the city walls.
Being religious about ingredient freshness is stylish.
Dominance is kept through technological superiority and skillful political trading.
This photo series dealswith Dubrovnik. It was once a powerfull Rennaisance city, a capital ofindependent Republic of Dubrovnik, numbering 40.000 inhabitants, when Londonhad 30.000 and Florence had 100.000. Today, it's same same but different. Perspective changed. Dubrovnikstill has same number of people gravitaging to the city, but London now has 7.5million and Florence is looking at 1.5 million. These numbers hint not onlychange in dominance but also a shift in the mindsent. Residents of Ragusa (Latinfor Dubrovnik) were once fierce naval commanders and traders navigating theworld's seas and oceans. They were ingenius minds introducing and spreadinginnovations from the Ottoman Empire and the other parts of the world. Today,people living in the Old Town mainly manouver though the labyring of smallstreets, proudly looking at their inherited real estate and running shopscatering to cruisers, who are, as they are walking the old streets, trying tofigure out which port they have been dropped off at: 'Is this Monaco? It'sniiice.' The Old Town used to be ahub for the information flow that was unprecedented back in the 16th century.The governors of the Ragusa designed the most igenious intelligence collectingsystem that gave them knowledge and leverage in negotiating with othersuperpowers of their time. It was a place that nurtured and inspired greatthinkers, poets and inventors. Today, the tourism business is catering to themass rather than the individual. This brings along cost cutting rather thanvalue creation, copying instead of inventing. It's like starting a day knowingthat it will look exactly like yesterday. It's a dramatic contrast, but ofcoursethere are a lot of great things as well. Somehow, as you stroll upand down the streets admiring small churches that occasionally pop up out ofnowhere, you can't be ambivalent. You value the cool hand made products andinnovative concepts that you run into. You enjoy that espresso served on thestaircase of one of the side alleys as you browse though the daily papers. Youfeel the architectural greatness. The Bauhaus theory was only a utopia. Thearchitecture doesn't really influence how people act. However, it definitelyinfluences how people feel. The feel of Rennaisanse ingeneouity caught in thosesmall streets sets your thoughts on a surreal Proust-like voyage. As you sipthat perfectly balanced espresso, you can smell freshly roasted coffee beansthat were just brought in from a distant South American country on one of thegreat ships sailing under the flag of Republic of Dubrovnik. The merchant whobrought them is sitting on the stair case right next to you, sampling chocolatewith chilli. He takes out another piece from a bag full of small practical andthought provoking innovations from its great adventures in distant lands overthe great seas. Thecity still has the feel of the Mediterranean as it once was.
