RESTORED INCUNABULUM RETURNS TO DUBROVNIK

DUBROVNIK, July 11 (Hina) - At a ceremony held at the Dubrovnik City Hall on Tuesday, Croatian President Stipe Mesic handed the head of the Dubrovnik Libraries, Mirjana Urban, a restored incunabulum, the famous work 'Opera Omnia' by the Florentine theologian and philosopher Giovanni Pico dela Mirandola, printed in Venice in 1498. #L# The incunabulum was restored by Polish experts from the Warsaw National Library at the proposal of the Polish embassy in Zagreb. The restoration lasted a year. The restored incunabulum was handed to Mesic by Poland's Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek during Mesic's recent visit to Poland. Croatian Culture Minister Antun Vujic thanked Polish Ambassador Jirzy Hmielewsky for the exceptional donation. Vujic said he hoped that Polish restorers would increase their participation in the reconstruction of Dubrovnik, to be agreed on by the Croatian and Polish governments. Expressing satisfaction with the restoration of the incunabulum, Mirjana Urban said the donation was the only complete original example of this work in Croatia. There is another, however incomplete example, which is being kept at the Zagreb National and University Library. Twenty-six 'Opera Omnia' works by Mirandola have been registered in the world, of which 17 are in the United States. Croatia keeps 1,124 incunabula and most of these precious works of world and Croatian literature are kept in Dubrovnik's Ragusini collection, Urban said. Emphasising the cooperation between the Polish embassy in Croatia and Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik Mayor Vido Bogdanovic said their cooperation was especially intensive during the Homeland War, after which it continued in the area of culture, including participation of Polish restorers in the reconstruction of some of Dubrovnik's monuments. (hina) jn rml