Pthe arena always represents something more than just an institution: it is a hearth (more precisely: one of the hearths) of social life and thought, an irreplaceable integral part of the soul of the people, a small organism, connected with thousands of thoughts to the large organism of society in which it plays its irreplaceable current social role.
It has its own community of spectators, which is not just a mechanical sum of its regular or occasional visitors, but something more: a certain kind of community... These people do not actually go to this or that play, but go to their theater, a bit like their spiritual home , they visit it normally as their club, i.e. out of wanting to be together. That's why I think that everything around the theater is also important: the atmosphere of the hall and the cashier, switchboards, etc. The sociality of the theater therefore represents something more permanent, complex and deeper than just the atmosphere of a two-hour experience.
Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) - "Letters to Olga"
It is a rare case, almost unknown, that the Tivat Theater, with one and the first performance, "Boke D minor" creates a foundation by which it profiles an original dramatic approach to the theater and culture of Boke in the environment of much older theaters. Creating such a well-known and recognized theater scene from the very beginning over two decades is a heroic work of strong individualists, strong-willed artists, broad education and inspiration.
And then, one day, there is a press conference of the president of the municipality with a team explaining the gesture of demolishing the twenty-year-old theater stage (without the decision of the competent authorities about the stage's demolition, without the issued conservation conditions of the Administration for Cultural Heritage from Kotor, which is located 10 kilometers from Tivat.
Right in the cultural heritage of the Buća tower, the church of St. Mihovila in the atrium with baroque columns, in the past two decades a place of theater cult has been formed. In a protected cultural asset, the consciousness of past times is revived and actualized by a live theatrical event, which is the basic goal and imperative of the meaning of the cultural asset.
Such a place, as the Buća-Luković complex, is the origin of culture and the refuge of cultural events today, not only in Tivat. It is identified with artistic creation and takes place in the space of creative mysticism. In theoretical settings, such a case is defined as a "chosen place". The Buća complex is such a place because it was not as relevant as a registered cultural asset in itself, as it became in its full definition, when it received a creative artistic experience. In that integration, the cultural property gained the full meaning of its cultural properties.
International protection conventions, as well as institutions ICROM, ICOMOS and others, have established the civilizational norm of modern man, which requires him to "extract" cultural assets from the historical framework of the past and include them in contemporary creative flows. This is called "integral protection" which is also prescribed by the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property of Montenegro, but it is obvious that the actors of this unusual destruction of the scene did not read, and perhaps did not even understand this part of the law. At the press conference, they did not refer to the cultural wealth of Purgatorio and other events, but instead created the image that it was an illegal tenant who should be evicted.
The ideal of unifying the spirit of the place genius loci of Buća tower, Sv. Michael's Church, and the atrium with new meaningful artistic events was realized like few places in cultural heritage, not only in Montenegro. Neither the Buća Tower without theatrical content, nor the theatrical content without the Buća Tower, would likely be such a successful scenic environment of specific inspiration for actors and directors, as well as for spectators. After all, except for the old people of Tiv, who knew about the Buća tower, until the theater initiative activated it. How many people in the world would never know about the fortress of Elsinore (Kronberg) in Denmark if it wasn't for Hamlet, i.e. Shakespeare. The Institute for Cultural Heritage from London favors cases such as the Buća-Luković complex, and awards the "Green Apple" international award for successful solutions for the integration of cultural content with an architectural object - a cultural asset. The Budva Archaeological Museum received such an award 17 years ago.
The theater initiative chose this place in the heart of Tivat, today the only city in Montenegro whose urban matrix nurtures the Mediterranean structure of the "linear city" in a new architectural style. The scenic features in the heart of modern Tivat have unmistakably found their place in the historical layering of the Pina waterfront, the park and the beautiful stylized modern architecture from the beginning of the XNUMXth century, and the link between Tivat and Porto Montenegro. To amputate the scene of Buć from the center means to remove a living spiritual culture from its historical bed. In pre-industrial cities, when they managed to inhale a ritualistic artistic experience in the urban space, they considered it a chosen place that received "Divine presence". It is obviously an ill-considered idea of the government, typical for today's political times, but atypical for the culture of Boka Kotorska.
On Gundulićeva Poljana in Dubrovnik, there is a market in the morning, a restaurant terrace in the afternoon, and a theater in the evening. Will we ever start learning from others and respect the creative and free-thinking layer of society: actors, writers, directors, playwrights...
That's why we need: BOTH A MUSEUM AND THEATER
The author is an architect by profession, and he was the director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Montenegro from 2003 to 2007.
Bonus video:
