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.
Let
the tourists sense a difference in the role played by France and
Austria in the history of Dalmatia. Let the tourists see Napoleon in
a way different from the battles he won (and lost).