A few monochrome photos taken from the first ever written guidebook about Kornati archipelago.

It was written by Amos-Rube Filipi and published in 1972. Today this guidebook has an antiquarian value. The writer was not only a historian, but also very familiar with the object of his writing – he was born in Sali on island of Dugi otok in 1905.

 

A cover of a first guidebook to Kornati with title Jugoslavija Kornati and a picture of a traditional wooden boat gajeta sailing on a calm sea with Kornati islands in the background

In these photos you can capture a glimpse of the way people used to live in Kornati. It was a harsh life full of hard labour. The photos were probably taken in the first half of the twentieth century, long before tourists discovered this unique archipelago.

This guidebook was a serious publication and it is still relevant. There are 4 chapters:

  1. Introduction
  2. General information about Kornati (geography, geology, climate, toponymy, history, stonewalls, fishing…)
  3. Specific information about Kornati divided into four parts: the area around islands Zut and Sit; from Katina to Mana; from Vrulje to Lavsa and from Lavsa to the end of Kornati archipelago
  4. Appendix (Warnings for sailors, Telascica, List of all islands, islets and rocks in Kornati) with small maps for every part of Kornati, 23 photos in black-and-white and a complete map of Kornati archipelago.

Every part is very well written and elaborated in details. There are numerous facts given in an interesting and intelligent way.

We have included a lot of these facts and stories into our blog posts.