66
The shipwreck near the islet of Gnalić, not far from the
coastal town of Biograd na Moru, is one of the most si-
gnificant post-medieval sites in the Mediterranean. Its
official discovery in the latter half of the 1960s excited
the domestic and international public, while experts were
compelled to deal head-onwith an undertaking for which
they were scarcely qualified. Thanks to their enthusiasm
and hard work, items were raised from the sea which are
even today considered breathtaking. However, the initial
excitement flagged, financing subsided, and an erroneous
impression of the extent of research into the site predo-
minated even in scholarly circles. Individuals investing
great personal energy – in stark contrast to the absence of
experts and incomplete awareness by relevant institutions
– managed to safeguard and preserve the integrity of the
site to some degree and create the conditions in Biograd
for the establishment of a museum.
Several subsequent attempts to resume research, although
unsuccessful, showed that the exploration of the site itse-
lf and the conservation and interpretation of the objects
already raised were nowhere near complete. Forty years
had to pass in order to create the conditions for systema-
tic research work, and to spark the local community’s se-
rious interest in the possibilities offered by the attractive
presentation of the shipwreck and its tremendously fasci-
nating cultural-historical and natural context.
Discovery and research
On 17 September 1967, the daily press carried the first
news on the discovery of a shipwreck near the islet of
Gnalić. The brief article under the headline “Sixteenth-
century galley; Amerchant ship or pirate schooner?” was
signed by Šibenik-based reporter Mirko Urošević, and
appeared on the same page as a piece announcing the
participation of Orson Welles in the motion picture
Bat-
tle of Neretva
.
News of the site was also conveyed in early September
of that same year thanks to Captain Miljenko Barić, who
sailed between Crvena luka, Biograd and the Kornati is-
land in the tourist boat
Borik
. On 11 September, Captain
Barić arrived in Zadar and showed a small group of ex-
perts interesting finds removed from the sea by sponge-
gatherers from the island of Murter. The next day, Ivo Pe-
tricioli, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zadar,
and Valentin Uranija, the director of the National Muse-
um in Zadar, contacted the finders, and on 13 September
they went with them to the site from Crvena Luka. The
Murter sponge-gatherers dove and brought up various
items in a bag. After considerable painstaking effort, a
small bronze cannon ‘surfaced’ together with them.
At the initiative of Zlatko Gunjača, an archaeologist from
Šibenik responsible for initiating underwater archaeol-
ogy in the Šibenik area, an expert inspection was organ-
ized on 15 September, which confirmed rumours of the
shipwreck on the Šibenik side as well. On his first dive,
Brodolom kod otočića Gnalića, nedaleko od Biograda na
Moru, jedno je od najznačajnijih post-srednjovjekovnih
nalazišta u Mediteranu. Njegovo je službeno otkriće u
drugoj polovici šezdesetih godina prošloga stoljeća uzbu-
dilo domaću i inozemnu javnost, a stručnjake prisililo na
hvatanje u koštac s poduhvatom za kakav nisu bili nimalo
spremni. Zahvaljujući njihovom entuzijazmu i trudu iz
mora su izvađeni predmeti od kojih i danas zastaje dah.
No, početno je uzbuđenje splasnulo, financijske je potpore
ponestalo, a pogrešan dojam o istraženosti nalazišta pre-
vladao čak i u stručnim krugovima. Velika energija poje-
dinaca, u izravnoj oprečnosti s nepostojanjem uigranih
stručnih timova, a vjerojatno i nedovoljnim razumijeva-
njem od strane nadležnih institucija, uspjela je donekle
zaštititi nalazište i u gradu Biogradu stvoriti preduvjete
za osnivanje muzejske ustanove zahvaljujući kojoj se,
1. Novinski članak o pronalasku brodoloma, objavljen u
Vjesniku
17. rujna 1967.
1. Newspaper article on the discovery of the shipwreck, published in
Vjesnik
on 17 September 1967
