Exhibition on Croatian training ship Jadran opened in Sabor

Zagreb - The exhibition "Croatian training ship Jadran - home port Split, 1933-2023", which marks the 90^th anniversary of that ship sailing into the port of Split, opened in the Croatian parliament on Thursday, with the message that endeavours are being taken to bring the vessel back from Tivat to Croatia.

The sailing ship, a barquentine, Jadran is a work of Croatian shipbuilding tradition, and it was built on the initiative of the Adriatic Guard from Split, one of the most important naval associations in Croatian maritime history, based on plans of Croatian engineer Josip Škarica.

From 1933 to 1990, the ship was used in maritime schools on the Croatian coast: Dubrovnik, Šibenik, Pula, Divulje and Split. It was managed for decades by Croatian commanders and used to train Croatian sailors, known all over the world.

In 1990, the training ship Jadran left its home port Lora in Split for the Montenegrin port of Tivat to be overhauled there and has remained in Montenegro. Since then, Croatia's efforts to return the training ship Jadran to its home port of Split have been ongoing.

Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said, opening the exhibition, that Croatia advocated solving this important issue through bilateral dialogue, wanting to find a permanent solution for its return under the Croatian flag and to its home port of Lora.

Croatia's demands are based, he underscored, on a solid legal framework and are also in accordance with the contract on succession to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

Croatian institutions remain determined and persistent in their bilateral efforts to restore this extremely valuable element of Croatian maritime heritage, Jandroković stressed, adding that the training ship Jadran belongs to Croatia "by right and by justice".

Andro Krstulović Opara, a member of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee and the organising committee of the Croatian training ship Jadran project, said that the Jadran was an important symbol of Croatian maritime and cultural identity, and that was why the requests that the vessel finally be returned to its home port were justified.