SPLIT INCLUDED IN EUROPEAN EXHIBITION PROJECT

( Editorial: --> 0841 ) SPLIT, Sept 19 (Hina) - Charles the Great and the Formation of Europe is the joint title of five large, theme-related exhibitions which will be displayed on the dawn of the new millennium in five European cities. Among them will be Croatia's southern Adriatic city of Split, which this year celebrates its 1700th anniversary. The project's patron is European Commission President Jacques Santer. On the occasion of the year 2000, which also marks the 1200th anniversary of the crowning of Charles the Great or Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor, these exhibitions aim to strengthen the centuries old idea of European unity. The Split section of the project, an exhibition entitled "Croats and Charlemagne", will be held under the patronage of the Croatian Culture Ministry from May 30 to September 30, 2001 in the city's Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments (MHAS). The exhibition, which will have an extensive bilingual catalogue, is important for Croatia, because it will show to the inadequately informed world public that Croatia was an indivisible part of Europe even back in Charlemagne's time. As well, the inclusion of Split in the exhibition project shows that Croatia today participates in European cultural life, according to the exhibition organisers. Members of the main council organising the Split exhibition include MHAS director Ante Milosevic, Motovun's International Investigation Centre for the Late Antiquity and Middle Ages head Miljenko Jurkovic, and Archaeological Institute of Zagreb scientific advisor Zeljko Rapanic. The exhibition will present Croatia through its regions of Istria (a peninsula in north-western Croatia), Panonnia (northern and eastern Croatia) and Dalmatia (southern Croatia) as they were back in Charlemagne's period, from the second half of the 8th century to the beginning of the 10th century. Organisers said this would be the first ever joint presentation of historic materials dating back to that period from those regions. Also accompanying the Split exhibition will be multimedia presentations of the other exhibitions involved in the project, while preceding it will be two monographic exhibitions and roundtables and expert gatherings. The total cost of the exhibition is about US$1.8 million. The other four exhibitions will be held in Germany, Spain, Italy and England. The project begins in 1999 in the German town of Paderborn with an exhibition titled "Art and Culture from Charlemagne's Period", and then continues in Barcelona, Spain with "Charlemagne Catalonia" and Brescia, Italy with "From Dezideria to Charles the Great". The Split exhibition will be held after this, and it will be followed by "The Golden Age of York" in the English city. (Hina) mbr jn 191353 MET sep 98