The other side of stone

Architecture, urban planning, the conservation of natural resources, environmental protection, sustainability, an excessive construction...hot and multiannual topics of Croatian tourism

Nowadays, almost everything is available: areas for construction, financing…and the attractiveness and inexhaustible beauty of the Croatian coast, as well as sea and sunshine, are a guarantee of touristic success. But let's turn a little bit behind us. When and how has it all started? How have we got to what we have today? How have our ancestors built? And most importantly – what have we learned from history, that greatest teacher of life?

Brela. Punta Rata Beach. One of the most attractive sea views of the Croatian coast. But there is another exceptional story that I would like to tell you. Architecture of Brela. Namely, it rests on the stone and the art of survival of the man who, in order to reach the fertile soil, had to overcome a rock first. This short piece, inspired by the book "Brela – the gate of Makarska littoral" by Joško Belamarić, published by the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Brela, brings information, but also an experience of the coexistence of the people of Brela with nature, wanting to convey the power of beauty hidden in the history. There are three key words on this path: suhozid (drywall), sklop (estate), Maestral (hotel). So turn a little bit to the other side and imagine Brela back then.

Due to the beauty of the coast and the sea, Brela is traditionally, but incorrectly, perceived as a village by the sea. But in the history, and even today, there is a series of settlements along the coast, but also inland. Tourism attracted the majority of the population to move closer to the coast, but the history of the life of Brela and the people of Brela can be found in the inland area, in numerous hamlets that attracted people in past, because of the water sources, pastures and land. The configuration of the terrain and the related jobs that habitants engaged in, caused the settlements to be scattered over a wider area and shaped in the hamlets – which are today guardians of the history of Brela. About forty of them are recorded, in the area of Gornja Brela and Zaveterje, and along the coast. Local population migrations in the area of Brela have been motivated by economic and security reasons and outline the stormy and difficult history of the population of the region.

After long and often years of famine, marked by the struggle to survive from disease and poverty, the second half of the 19th century brought betterment to the entire region, and in that time, the perspectives of settlements, buildings and spaces that we recognize today began to emerge alongside the dry-stone walls. When a man dedicated to his homeland thinks of himself, he actually first thinks of his land, be it made of earth or stone. Therefore, progress has also been evident in the creation of arable land, so the soil was collected by hand. In everything that is available to us today, from machines for cultivating ground, collecting fruits, all the way to stores where we take already harvested fruits in our hands, often not even knowing what their "mother" (their tree) looks like, could you remember the last time you picked, levelled, planted or pulled something out of the ground – with your own hands? When was the last time you have felt a bit of soil or a piece of stone, like the one from drywall, in your hands? It is hard to remember. And, once upon a time, all this has been created by two hands of a hardworking man. And it remained to us as the most valuable heritage to this day, because what a man creates with his work and in sweat – does not disappear.

Drywall, that art of physics, construction, statics. Almost banal, but masterful, drywall is the work of hardworking hands that, burdened by many "musts" of life, in addition to soil and livestock, also handle stone. Man and stone, that's drywall. Drywalls were a necessity that emerged from the scarce land to then enclose, protect and nourish it. Drywall is just a dry stone, but it was the condition for a handful of fertile land, the seed of a healthy life. Drywalls no longer have their original function, but they remain a permanent part of the landscape of this region, a living monument of life, a memory of sweat and pain, a memory which you can revive by touching any rock here. Each one has already been a part of someone's hands, one of our great-grandfathers has thought about each one of it and has trusted in that stone. That it will preserve him and help him to survive. Drywall has been a kind of “building made of field". 

And how have the stone houses been built and how life of people of Brela looked like? Those artists of life woven from a lot of rocks and a little ground, surrounded by what has changed life for generations – the smell of the sea. The stone, although heavy, has always been a sure companion in life. People of Brela used it to build their homes and shelters for fruits, animals and life itself. Everything from life and work has been "poured" into the stone houses. The houses were two-story buildings with a part for people and a part for fruits and food. All the food stored in the houses has been grown by the hands of those who lived in the same house. Man and his work together, in one place, under the one roof, after the same pain, in the same hearthstone. It is not easy, but it is truly, and perhaps inimitably – valuable. A unique example of this kind of coexistence, as well as an architectural example of construction, are residential and commercial buildings, the so-called sklopovi (estates). It is a unified series of residential and commercial houses connected as an ensemble around a closed courtyard in the middle, which is connected to the houses by a porch. In the centre of this complex (in the courtyard) there was a series of "machines" for food processing and production. The most famous preserved example of this type of construction is the complex Bekavci – Ivandići on Kričak, created by the work of three brothers.

Kilometres of “stone on stone” testify modestly, roughly, along the way, simply but indestructibly, to what life is and can be. If it wasn't for... tourism. Tourism as a cultural asset. Sounds good. And it is good. Hotel Maestral in Brela is an example of such tourism. The kind of tourism that carefully, subtly, dignified, unobtrusive, but also masterfully (like drywall) enters the space and the hearts of people. A hotel that is loved as a part of home. Created at the time of the rise of mass tourism as an economic and cultural determinant of that time. However it has managed to preserve its uniqueness until today, when we are fighting exactly that – mass tourism – with all available means. As one of the capital works of the architects Julio DeLuca, Ante Rožić and Matija Salaj, Hotel Maestral is an exceptional example of modernism in the architecture of the 60s of the last century. It remains as an example and guidepost of functional, sustainable tourist construction, even today. Even though it was built about sixty years ago, Hotel Maestral still successfully responds to all requirements and challenges nowadays, when both tourism and the world look very different.

Tourism, which remains the primary economic activity, ensures the quality of life of the local population, does not endanger the environment, and is available to lovers of the world, tourists, this is the type of tourism that the Hotel Maestral brings to life too. The beauty and functionality of the building are immersed in the space that they still refine, providing comfort and intimacy to every visitor. With its architecture, Brela offers a walk through life. The life in a way it used to be and the way we dream about. The life we build.