Dr Nikolina Belošević at the 2026 International Summer School of Museology and Heritage

Project team member Dr Nikolina Belošević participated in the 2026 International Summer School of Museology and Heritage, held in Koper from 1 to 5 September 2026. The Summer School was organised by the UNESCO Chair in Interpretation and Education for the Promotion of Holistic Approaches to Heritage at the University of Primorska, in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Heritage, Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska.

The theme of this year’s Summer School was “Conservation as Interpretation: Between Conservation, Museology, and Heritage Interpretation.” The programme brought together researchers and heritage professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds to explore the complex relationships between conservation, museology, heritage interpretation, and education. 

Dr Belošević presented a paper entitled “Stories Behind the Interlace – New Research on Early Medieval Sculpture of the Eastern Adriatic.” The presentation highlighted heritage interpretation as a means of translating new research into meaningful experiences for wider audiences. As a process of meaning-making through communication, participation, and experience, interpretation can deepen understanding of heritage and encourage active engagement with its cultural significance.

Dr Belošević’s participation at the Summer School provided an opportunity to present the research conducted within the MIKOM project in an international and interdisciplinary environment, while also contributing to the exchange of knowledge and perspectives on contemporary approaches to heritage interpretation, conservation, and public engagement.

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Invited Lecture by Dr Nikolina Belošević at the National Professional Conference for Visual Arts Teachers

As part of the dissemination of the MIKOM project’s research and its broader engagement with the educational and cultural sectors, project team member Dr Nikolina Belošević delivered an invited lecture entitled “Drawing – Interlace – Nation: From a Universal Early Medieval Motif to a Contemporary Sign of Croatian Identity.”

The lecture was presented at the National Professional Conference for Teachers of Visual Arts, Drawing as a Universal Means of Expression in Visual Art, held on 27–28 August 2026 at the First Sušak Croatian Gymnasium in Rijeka. The conference was organized by the Education and Teacher Training Agency and brought together teachers and educators in the field of visual arts from all counties of the Republic of Croatia.

The lecture addressed the transformation of the interlace motif from a non-figurative decorative form in Early Medieval art into a powerful symbol associated with Croatian cultural and national identity. In this context, it also presented questions of visual interpretation, cultural memory, and the changing meanings attributed to artistic motifs across different historical and contemporary contexts.

The participation of a MIKOM project team member in a national professional conference for visual arts educators represents an important contribution to the dissemination of the project’s research findings beyond the academic community and to strengthening dialogue between scholarly research, education, and the wider public.

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Working Meeting of Project Team Members

On Thursday, 25 June 2026, a working meeting of the project team members of the MICOM project was held at the Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka. The aim of the meeting was to coordinate the implementation of analyses of sculpture samples from the islands of Krk, Cres, and Lošinj, to be carried out by Dr. Zrinko Baričević at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Drug Development, University of Rijeka, as well as to discuss the publication of the results of analyses conducted so far. The meeting was attended by Dr. Zrinko Baričević, Dr. Nikolina Belošević, and Prof. Dr. Marina Vicelja Matijašić.

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Research Activities of Dr. Zrinko Baričević

As part of the project activities aimed at researching the materiality of early medieval stone fragments from the Kvarner islands, project collaborator Dr. Zrinko Baričević carried out a series of analyses on stone fragment samples from the island of Krk. The stone fragments were photographed using an Olympus SZX12 microscope at magnifications between 15x and 180x, depending on the size of the sample. A comparative qualitative visual analysis was conducted on them, focusing on the morphology of the stone’s microstructure, the size and orientation of the crystal lattice, the homogeneity and quality of the stone, and potential intrusions of heavy and colored metals. This analysis enables the comparison of selected fragments and their grouping with regard to historical-geological excavations. By further comparing them with existing databases from historical quarries, it becomes possible to determine the locality from which the stone used to create these works originated, and thereby situate their production within historical geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts.

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Working meeting of the project team members

On Wednesday, 17 June 2026, a working meeting of the members of the MICOM project team
was held at the Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University
of Rijeka. The aim of the meeting was to categorize the sculpture samples from the islands of
Krk, Cres, and Lošinj, and to select the samples that will be the first to be sent for
mineralogical–petrographic analyses, which will be carried out at the Faculty of Mining, Geology
and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb, by Assoc. Prof. Dr Uroš Barudžija.
The meeting was attended by Dr Nikolina Belošević, Dr Katarina Šprem, and Prof. Dr Marina
Vicelja Matijašić.

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Field survey on the islands of Cres and Lošinj

As part of the MICOM project, another field survey of the Kvarner islands was carried out on 8.
May 2026, this time on the islands of Cres and Lošinj. Members of the project team — Dr
Nikolina Belošević, Assoc. Prof. Dr Danko Dujmović, and Dr Katarina Šprem — visited the Cres
Museum, the Archaeological Collection of the Lošinj Museum in Osor, and the Sacral Collection
of the Parish Church in Osor.
The fieldwork included the inspection, documentation, photographing, and sampling of
fragments of early medieval stone sculpture. Sampling was conducted by Dr Tea Zubin Ferri
(“Archeolab”, Pula), under the supervision of Tea Sušanj Protić from the Directorate for the
Protection of Cultural Heritage, Regional Conservation Office in Rijeka.

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“UNIRI for the People of Cres” programme

Two lectures related to the theme “Stories Behind the Interlace – Research on the Early Medieval Sculpture of the Kvarner Islands” were held on 7 May 2026 at Moise Palace in the town of Cres as part of the University of Rijeka’s “UNIRI for the People of Cres” programme. The lectures presented the results of research conducted within the project “Material, Interpretation, Communication, Memory: Early Medieval Stone Sculpture of the Northern Adriatic – MIKOM.”

Dr. Nikolina Belošević presented new insights into the early medieval sculpture of the Kvarner region, while Dr. Tea Zubin Ferri discussed the methods and results of archaeometric research on the stone materials of the northern Adriatic.

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“UNIRI for the People of Cres” programme

Members of the project team “Material, Interpretation, Communication, Memory: Early Medieval Stone Sculpture of the Northern Adriatic – MIKOM,” Associate Professor Danko Dujmović and Dr. Katarina Šprem (Udruga Petra), held educational workshops on 7 May 2026 at Moise Palace for lower primary school pupils from Frane Petrić Primary School.

The workshops were organized as part of the University of Rijeka’s “UNIRI for the People of Cres” programme. The theme was “Reading Stories from Stone,” and the pupils explored the origin, types, and structure of stone in a geology workshop, as well as the decorative motifs and function of early medieval interlace stone sculpture from the islands of Cres and Lošinj in an art workshop. A total of around eighty pupils participated in the eight workshops that were conducted.

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Field survey on the island of Krk

Within the MIKOM project, another field survey was conducted on March 2, 2026, on the island of Krk. Members of the project team, Dr. Nikolina Belošević and Associate Professor Danko Dujmović, visited sites in Omišalj and Dobrinj. They were joined in the field by undergraduate students of art history enrolled in the course Professional Practice 3, as well as Stjepan Petković, a graduate student of art history.

The field survey included the examination, documentation, photography, and sampling of fragments of early medieval stone sculpture. The sampling was carried out by Dr. Tea Zubin Ferri (Archeolab, Pula), under the supervision of colleague Ivan Braut from the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Regional Conservation Department in Rijeka.

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