A plaque announcing the first primary school in Bol (on the island of Brač, Croatia) caught my eye because of a pleasant brown color - I count brown colors among the hardiest to get right. But then, the plaque's text is disappointing. Not because of the color, of course.

I understand plaque is for the tourists primarily, Bol is on the list of leading Croatian destinations. Attract them, that’s the drive, give them something besides sun and sea. Show them they are sunbathing in a country of remarkable culture and history. Well, do that smartly, don’t burden them too much, they are on vacation. A reasoning like that would justify the ‘cultural’ level of the plaque, maybe.

The quality of English language aside, the text about primary school is on a primary school level. "With the arrival of the French ..." - where those French missionaries or what? Why not tell that primary education was introduced during Napoleonic Italy and the new province of Illyria, and it was in Croatian from the start. "After the return of the Austrian manage- ment ..." - what did Austrians manage, some fishing industry (and the fishing was not taught well) or what? It was the return of Austrian rule, the Austrian government closed the school, and then reopened it 43 (56) years later but not in Croatian.