Battiala Family (2021) - Pazin State Archives

This year's celebration of Labin City Day ended in the best possible way with the opening of the impressive and above all valuable archival exhibition "The Battial Family" last night at the Labin National Museum. This archival material has a special value not only as a unique source for historical and other social research, but as an irreplaceable part of the historical and cultural heritage of Labin and Istria County and Croatia as a whole. It represents an exceptional value and testifies to the connection and involvement of the Battiala family in the wider European cultural and social context, as well as their interest in local topics.

Namely, the State Archives in Pazin in 2012 bought the private archives of the Battiala family, which was created from the 17th to the 20th century., followed by almost ten years of dedicated and engaged work on the materials by Biserka Budicin, a senior archivist in the State Archives in Pazin.

On that occasion, Biserka Budicin emphasized the value of the material, whose oldest preserved record dates back to 1604 and added that the entire material was very well preserved. The exhibition in Labin was presented in six sections with a total of 56 exhibits of original archival material.

Each exhibit is accompanied by a legend in Croatian and Italian. In addition to originals, copies and photographs, the exhibition is enriched by three multimedia animations: the first is a biography, the second is an animation dedicated to the genealogy of this family, and the third is eight representative and meaningful letters that individual family members received or sent.

‘This was not an easy task, but a long-term job of studying the family tree, the stem books, which are kept in the State Archives in Pazin“, said Biserka Budicin, adding that this very successful Labin family had very enterprising members, with a sense of business who worked hard to make a profit for their lives and the lives of their descendants.

Their family fund is a valuable source of historical research in various scientific disciplines. The data testify to political circumstances, life in Labin and Labin, social and social circumstances of that time.

‘Reputable noble families Battiala Lazzarini from the 17th century played a very important role for Labin and Labin surroundings“, said the director of the State Archives in Pazin, Mirela Mrak Kliman, and stressed that the importance of the material is also demonstrated by the fact that the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia has registered this material in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia.

The aim of this exhibition, Mrak Kliman continued, was to awaken the interest of the professional and scientific public in researching this valuable period of Labin history. In addition to the State Archives in Pazin, the co-organiser of the exhibition, ‘The Battial Family’ is the Labin National Museum, and Vedran Kos, the head of the Labin Museum, spoke in his address about interesting events from ten years ago and the first encounter with this rich material in the Antolić family house in the Old Town, whose attic has kept and preserved the material since 1945.

Namely, when the Battiala Lazarini family moved from Labin, they entrusted the Antolić family with the care they did not take with them at that time. Today they are kept in the safe hands of the State Archives in Pazin.

‘It is an exceptional honor to open this exhibition, but an even greater obligation to be even more knowledgeable, aware and proud of our extremely rich culture and history. Walking through the streets of Labin Old Town tonight, I thought about the generations before us, who also climbed these same streets and left us behind several beautiful palaces and impressive historical and cultural values. Then I looked at the exhibition of the Battiala family, and valuable manuscripts, and documents. Labin, our history and culture is immensely valuable and rich. We will invest in her protection because she makes us proud to be Labinians“, said Mayor Valter Glavičić.

The exhibition, created in cooperation between the State Archives in Pazin and the Labin National Museum, is accompanied by a high-quality bilingual catalogue, graphically designed by Ivona Verbanac and printed in the printing house Art studio Azinović from Zagreb. The proofreading and proofreading of the catalogue is done by Kristina Varda, photographs by Mirjana Gržetić and Jakov Kmet. Matija Čibej is in charge of digital video animation and video production of the exhibition, and for sound recordings at the Radio Istra exhibition.

The reviewer of the exhibition text is dr. sc. Elvis Orbanić, who as a longtime director of the State Archives in Pazin worked on the implementation of the Battiala family project. Thanks were also given to Prof. Tulli Voran, whose initiative was used to buy and store the material in the Pazin Archives, the Association of the Blind of Istria County, and for his financial support to the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the City of Labin, the Italian Union, the Italian Community of the City of Labin ‘Giuseppina Martinuzzi’ and the Labin Rabac Tourist Board.

Among the numerous audience, the opening of the exhibition was attended by the Deputy Prefect of the Istrian County Tulio Demetlika, the Labin parish priest Mirko Vukušić and the president of the Labin branch of the Association of Blind Persons of the Istrian County, Sonja Belušić. The exhibition will remain open until the end of September. (taken from: https://radiolabin.hr/news_details.php?id=21339 (23.8.2021)