Glagolitic Alley (hrvatski. Aleja glagoljaša) is a memorial composed of a string of eleven outdoor monuments dotting the road between the villages Roč and Hum in Croatia. Sculptures were erected between 1977 and 1985 to honor the historical Croatian scribal tradition in Glagolitic script. The road is seven kilometers long.
History
Idea for the memorial was conceived by a writer Zvane Črnja,
while the individual monuments themselves were worked out by a
sculptor Želimir Janeš and a literary historian Josip Bratulić.
Alley shows the path of Istrian, Croatian and Slavic Glagolitic
tradition, illustrating the centers of Croatian Glagolitic medieval
literature in Istria, suggesting its Slavic roots and literacy and
its continuity from the 11th century to the present day.
Monuments
The memorial is composed of eleven individual monuments, ten of
which are made of stone, and one (City Gate) made of copper. The
monuments appear along the road as following:
- Pillar of the Čakavian Parliament (1977) - in the form of
Glagolitic letter S symbolizing logos, mind, reason
- Table of Cyril and Methodius (1978) - a three-legged table
before two cypresses which symbolize the two brothers
- Assembly of Clement of Ohrid (1978) - Clement was the student
of the Cyril and Methodios and the founder of the first Slavic
literary school
- Glagolitic Lapidarium (1984) - copies of the most important
Glagolitic monuments from regions of the former Yugoslavia
- Gorge of Croatian Lucidarius - symbolizing the Istrian
Mount Olympus:
Učka
- Belvedere of Grgur Ninski - a stone book with Glagolitic,
Cyrillic and Latin letters inscribed
- The Rise of the Istrian Demarcation (1980), stone door in the
form of Glagolitic letter L, through which a road runs and
around which stones are scattered forming Glagolitic letters,
spelling the words of Istrian Demarcation
- Wall of Croatian Protestants and Heretics - a stone clepsydra
with names of Croatian Protestants
- Resting Place of Žakan Juraj - commemorating the first Croatian
printed book in seven stone chairs forming the letters that spell
the name of Žakan Juraj
- Monument to Resistance and Freedom (1979) - three stone blocks
representing the Antiquity, Middle Ages and Modern Period
- City Gates - a copper door with bucrania, knocker and a
calendar, showing the work in the field for each month of the
year
