The celebration was enhanced by the presence of UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture Francesco Bandarin, Sibenik County Prefect Goran Pauk and delegations of the Culture Ministry, the Priroda public institution and the Sibenik city branch of the Conservation Institute.
After touring the fortress, Bandarin underscored that it was a truly brilliant example of military architecture and one of the most important of its kind in the Mediterranean, and that it deserved to be on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The way the fortress was included on that list is important, it was not included as a separate facility but as part of the Venetian defence systems in the 16th and 17th centuries. That is very important because it shows the historical ties between countries that were the 'owners' of those fortresses as well as that today they can cooperate in preserving them for future generations, Bandarin said.
There are not many places in the world that have two monuments on UNESCO's cultural heritage list. I think that might be London, Beijing and now Sibenik, Bandarin added.
Pauk said that this event was the icing on the cake for Sibenik following all the effort invested into the project that culminated in July in Poland when the St. Nicholas fortress was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
"We are tremendously honoured with the visit by Mr. Bandarin who will officially present us with the charter later today, which is a symbolic act confirming that our fortress is now part of UNESCO's cultural heritage. It has taken a long time but from the start we believed in this project and with the hard work of people in the ministry and us in the field, and the staff at the Priroda public institution, with Anita Babacic Ajduk at its head, we completed the procedure that is very important for Sibenik's, the county's and Croatia's tourism rating," Pauk said.