Thirty years ago Dubrovnik’s Sponza Palace was the venue for the signing of a Twinning Charter between the Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities Association and the Dubrovnik emigrant Association of Lima in Peru. A commemorative ceremony was hosted by the CHF Dubrovnik and the DPDS to mark the anniversary.
Thirty years ago—more precisely on 23 July 1983—Dubrovnik’s Sponza Palace was the venue for a festive formality. A Twinning Charter was signed on that day between the Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities Association (DPDS) and the Dubrovnik emigrant association of Lima in Peru, whose members are for the most part emigrants from Dubrovnik and the wider Dubrovnik region and their descendants. On hand for the official signing of the Charter, in Croatian and Spanish, were then DPDS president Mato Kapović and other members, and Mirko Ucović representing the Dubrovnik association of Peru.
The Charter states, “We solemnly declare out commitment to continue and strengthen mutual collaboration to the benefit and advancement of our old and new lands, convinced that we thereby contribute to understanding, rapprochement and peace among nations.
To mark the signing thirty years ago a commemorative ceremony was held at the DPDS premises on April 19th, hosted by the Croatian Heritage Foundation branch office in Dubrovnik and the Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities Association.
On hand for the ceremony were DPDS president Denis Orlić and secretary Niko Kapetanić, former Dubrovnik association in Lima president (1998–2004) Marko Burin, CHF Dubrovnik head Maja Mozara, painter Ivo Grbić, who was commission for the Charter artwork, DPDS member and commemoration initiator Damir Račić and other members of the DPDS.
DPDS president Orlić presented Marko Burin with several commemorative gifts in memory of this anniversary and his visit. Mr Burin was presented with the Statutes of the City of Dubrovnik from 1272, a DVD featuring the Walls of Dubrovnik and Walls of the City of Ston, a documentary film about the DPDS (which marked its own 60th anniversary in 2012) and a Count Fran Đivo Gundulić medal.
Text by: Damir Račić