October 2024: New oldest Osor graves

As part of the European Heritage Days 2024, on Thursday, October 17, an exhibition titled New Oldest Osor Graves (Novi najstariji grobovi Osora / New Oldest Osor Graves) was opened in Osor, Croatia. On this occasion, engaging lectures were held, including presentations by two lecturers from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Primorska, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Martina Blečić Kavur and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Boris Kavur.

The theme of this year’s European Heritage Days was The Heritage of Cultural Routes, Networking, and Connections. In this context, the Lošinj Museum, in collaboration with the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Primorska and within the international research project Osor Beyond the Myth, organized a thematic event at the Osor Archaeological Collection titled The Archaeological Heritage of Osor in the Cultural Networks of the Ancient World. The event aimed to present Osor’s millennia-old heritage to a broader audience, contributing to the promotion and recognition of established heritage values within the program, which involved more than 120 institutions across Croatia.

On this occasion, the exhibition New Oldest Osor Graves was inaugurated, showcasing newly discovered graves and their contexts from various locations within and beyond Osor, dating back to the Iron Age, or the first millennium BCE. Personal artifacts, mostly jewelry and attire, are of great significance for understanding the dynamic past and rich heritage of this remarkable site—both within the cultural sphere of the Kvarner region and in broader Adriatic and Mediterranean historical networks. Luxurious and exotic objects, in particular, serve as indicators of status, power, and prestige among the inhabitants of Iron Age Osor, while also bearing witness to the individual and collective history and identity of this area.

Following the opening, a series of lectures took place, starting with Zrinka Ettinger Starčić, Director of the Lošinj Museum, who presented The Archaeological Heritage of Osor. This was followed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Martina Blečić Kavur with her talk The Enduring Connection of Osor Graves and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Boris Kavur with Archaeological Artifacts from Osor as Reflections of Many Past Networks.

The exhibition, housed in one of the oldest museum collections in Croatia, will be on display until February 17, 2025.

25. October 2024