GERMANY

One of the few cities which contains a monument to Marko Marulić is Berlin, specifically the Wilmersdorf-Charlottenburg borough. An initiative to have the monument erected was started in 1998 by Ivo Sanader, during his official visit to Berlin. The idea was wholeheartedly accepted in 2000 by Berlin’s major, Michael Wrasmann. That year marked the 30^th anniversary of its friendship with Split, which was signed in 1970 as a show of solidarity between Berlin, which was divided at the time, and unaligned Yugoslavia. The committee for erecting the monument, which was headed by Ivo Sanader, chose to commission sculptor Slavomir Drinković for the project. The area around the monument, which is located in the Brienerstrasse, gets particularly lively around August 18^th every year, as that is when Berlin’s Croats come to pay homage to the father of Croatian literature for his birthday.

Split’s Major, Ivan Škarić (left), and Michael Wrasmann, major of Berlin’s Wilmersdorf-Charlottenburg borough, with a woman wearing Split’s traditional garb

Unveiling ceremony for the monument in 2000, on the 30^th anniversary of the signing of the proclamation of friendship between the two cities, and the 550^th birthday of Marko Marulić (photos courtesy of Goran Borčić)

Marko Marulić (1450 – 1524)

Croatian Poet and Renaissance humanist

By Slavomir Drinković

Bronze 2000

Donated by Split, sister city,

On the 30^th anniversary of its fraternization with Wilmersdorfom