Issues in restoration, preservation, and management of post‐military culturescape in Croatia

Due to its geopolitical position on the map of Europe and their military and strategic importance, Croatia inherited countless sites and compounds of defensive architecture dating to various periods of history. An analysis of their placement proves their concentration along the roads and rivers being the trade routes, and in strategic border locations within the country and along the Adriatic coast. The historical heritage of this type is decisive for the specific character of the culturescape in various regions of Croatia. Depending on the circumstances and fitness of individual locations to defensive purposes, the roles and histories of fortifications and areas related to them varied. Research proves that the compounds from the earliest historical periods have been preserved to our times either in the form of archaeological relics or as sites that have long been abandoned and ruined, while the condition of most modern defence facilities has remained relatively good. A separate group among the latter are the fortifications from Austrian times, concentrated along the former border with the Ottoman Empire along the Sava River and on the Adriatic coast. Due to their advantageous situation for defensive purposes, many of them have long retained the continuity of this form of use – unfortunately until our days. Due to the changing requirements of defensive arts and the introduction of new defensive positions paralel to the development of offensive techniques and also for other reasons, with the passage of time, most facilities underwent major changes pertaining primarily to their form and structure. With the reduction of the military functions, some facilities were abandoned, which would result in continuing destruction. Others would for a long time remain in the custody of military authorities, and are now being adapter to new functions. The major political, economic, social and other processes of the last decade have brought plenty of profound changes in various areas of life. They resulted in the increased need for introducing basic changes in the forms of use and management, and the means of supervising post‐military culturescape. The subject embarked upon here is an attempt to define the scope of problems related to such areas, and the formulation of plans for their adaptation to contemporary functions in the new political and economic conditions. The subject of research is the selected facilities developed in the Dual Austro‐Hungarian Empire that – being now devoid of the leading military function – may not only complement and expand the tourist offer related to cultural heritage at the same time support the creation of a strategy for social and economic development and improvement of living conditions in the areas of specific post‐military landscape. The material presented here makes it possible to evaluate the level of preservation of the assets of the individual post‐military landscape, the definition of their role for the value and resources of culturescape and the presentation of various concepts of adjusting them to new functionalities. Worth special attention among numerous such cases are the civil initiatives, plans, designs, and projects focused on the areas of post‐military landscape of Pula, the city whose urban development continued to be subjected to its military functions for the last two centuries