Mihajlo Arsovski – pioneer of graphic design

Arsovski Mihajlo was a Croatian graphic designer who was born in Skopie, Macedonia
in 1937 and died in 2020, in Zagreb. Together with Ivan Picelj and Boris Bućan, he laid the
foundations of modern Croatian graphic and visual culture and largely shaped the culture of
the 1960s and 1970s.
By the mid-1970s, he was associated with the experimental scene of the Student Center
(SC) of the University of Zagreb, shaping the visual identity of almost all its cultural
institutions and events, which included not only the design of recognizable typographic
posters, but also the entire repertoire of other graphic communications, such as tickets,
invitations, program booklets, postcards, calendars, and interior design. Although the
audience knows him primarily for posters for exhibitions and theater and book design (eg
Razlog Library, Kolo, BiblioTeka, SN Liber and Cekade editions), Arsovski was an
extremely productive author who touched almost everyone with his graphic design: from
newspaper design (SL, Polet, Pop express, Telegram) and magazines (Razlog, Život
umjetnosti, Prolog, Teka), catalogs, visual identities, signaling through packaging,
scenography, exhibition setup, film credits, record envelopes, furniture and interior design, as
well as letter design.
Arsovski introduces references from popular culture using photography, photomontage
or collage. An ingenious and excellent typographer, Arsovski designed mostly typographic
posters for the Gallery of Contemporary Art.
Mihajlo Arsovski played a key part in the education of numerous young Croatian
designers during the ‘80s. This was a period when no appropriate education in typography
existed in Croatia. This great artist, who broke stereotypes, raised his voice against the
communist society of the time.
Pictures without pictures - "white" posters by Mihajlo Arsovski
In many other posters of Arsovski, the goal is not to quickly and efficiently convey
information, but to attract the audience, create atmosphere, environment recognizing cultural
codes, but also questioning all such assumptions and expectations, (moreover, many of his
posters lack some specific information, because he considers that the audience already knows
or can easily find them).
For example, there are two almost monochromatic posters. The first "white on white"
poster was realized for the exhibition of Gorgona member Miljenko Horvat in the SC Gallery
in 1965, and the second, even more radical version, the following, 1966, as a poster for
KASP, Chamber Ensemble of Contemporary Dance, led by Milan Broš.
 Croatian Glagolitic Scripts
Glagolitic is the oldest Slavic alphabet and is one of the two Slavic alphabets along
with Cyrillic. It is widely accepted in science that the Glagolitic alphabet is older than the
Cyrillic alphabet. Unlike the Cyrillic alphabet, which was created by spontaneous long-term
adaptation of the Greek alphabet. It is believed that it was designed by St. Cyril borned as
Constantine, a Greek from Thessaloniki. for the mission among the Moravian Slavs in the 9th
century Constantine and his older brother Methodius  Byzantine Christian theologians and
missionaries were the bearers of this mission, which aimed to educate and enlighten the
Slavs. They came to Moravia at the invitation of Prince Rastislav with the support of the
Byzantine Emperor Michael III.
For the purposes of this mission, the brothers also translated the most important
liturgical texts from Greek into Old Slavonic, This language is considered the first literary
language of all Slavs, and most scholars believe that it originated on the basis of the South
Macedonian language of the Thessaloniki area.
The name of the script is derived from the Croatian verb glagoljati, which has 2
meanings: (1) to speak, to utter, and (2) to serve mass in the Old Church Slavonic* language.
There are 2 types of Glagolitic script: round and square, according to the shape of the
characters. The round type was used in the entire Slavic-speaking world, while the square
Glagolitsa, introduced in the 13th century, is exclusively Croatian! Actually, there is also the
third type, the triangular variant – this type is the oldest one and its existence was discovered
much later.
Baška tablet (Croatian: Bašćanska ploča, from around 1100) is one of the oldest – and
probably the most famous – monuments containing Glagolitic inscription. This monument has
great historical significance: It is the oldest known document in which the adjective Croatian
(hrvatski) is mentioned, as well as the name of a Croatian ruler in Croatian language (kralj
Zvonimir). The document was named after Baška, a town on the island of Krk where it was
found.
There are 41 characters of Glagolitsa as we know it today, but this number can vary
from type to type. Although the Glagolitic script soon disappeared among the Greek Orthodox
Slavic peoples because of the victory of the Cyrillic. It is still employed in the Slavonic
liturgy in some Dalmatian and Montenegrin communities;
Each Glagolitic letter has a name, similarly as Latin alphabet and the Greek alphabet.
For example, the first nine letters of the Glagolitic alphabet (A = az, B = buki, V = vjedi, G =
glagolju,
 Due to the importance of Glagolitic in Croatian culture and history, in 2014 the art of
reading, writing and printing Glagolitic was declared an intangible cultural asset, and in 2019
the Croatian Parliament declared February 22 the Day of Croatian Glagolitic

Renaissance architecture in Dubrovnik

The Renaissance generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th
century.   The Renaissance started in Florence, Italy, a place with a rich cultural history where
wealthy citizens could afford to support budding artists. Renaissance art was characterized by
realism and naturalism, artists turned their attention to the beauty and mystery of the natural
world and to the individual man, who was considered the centre of this new era.
The Renaissance in Croatia is a period of cultural enrichment in Croatia that began at
the middle of the 15th century and lasted until the end of the 16th century. Dubrovnik,
originally called Ragusa, was founded in the 7th century by the refugees from Epidaurum,
Roman city 15km south of Dubrovnik (nowdays known as Cavtat).
Dubrovnik is a medieval city with a medieval infrastructure, street network. On the
other hand, most of its public spaces and public buildings are examples of the Baroque. The
reason is that most of the buildings that we see today in Dubrovnik were built after the great
earthquake of 1667. The earthquake destroyed almost everything, only the walls remaining
almost untouched, being of such massive and solid construction. After the great earthquake
almost the entire town was rebuilt and Dubrovnik is not one of those cities with a particular
unified style.
The most important names of the architects of Dubrovnik are the Renaissance masters
Michelozzo Michelozzi and Juraj Dalmatinac.

Sponza Palace is one of the most beautiful palaces in the City, built in 1516-1522.
This complex palace was designed by chief architect Paskoje Miličević. It is a large
rectangular building with an inner courtyard. An open porch communicates with the square in
front; another porch opens on the first floor in front. The building is a mixture of Gothic and
Renaissance styles, which was typical for the conservative Dubrovnik Republic of those
times. The porch and the sculptural ornaments of the building were made after 1516 by the
brothers Andrijić, masters from Korčula, and by other less known stone-cutters.
A beautiful medal with Jesus' monogram and 2 angels was carved by the sculptor
Beltrand Gallicus on the back wall.
 inscription on the arch: (Our weights do not permit cheating or being cheated. When I
measure the commodities the Lord measures with me.)
Sponza palace has a unique role during the special opening ceremony of the Dubrovnik
Summer Festival.

The large complex of the Franciscan monastery is situated at the very beginning of
Placa, to the left of the inner Pile Gate, next to the Holy Savior Church. The lateral facade of
the monastery church runs along the principal street of Dubrovnik, and the monastery spreads
north along the walls as far as the tower Minčeta.
The Franciscan order arrived in Dubrovnik around 1234. The first Franciscan monastery was
built in the 13th century in the Pile area on the spot what is today Hotel Hilton Imperial.
The portal has all the marks of the Gothic style, but the solid volumes of the figures
show the Renaissance spirit. The figures of St. Jerome and St.John the Baptist are set above
the door-posts, while the Pieta in relief is represented in the central Gothic lunette. 

The Church of Holy Savior (1520) was built to please the God and thank the Savior for
sparing the City from any damages in the strong earthquake that struck Dubrovnik.
It is interesting to notice that for building of this votive church even the noble ladies
carried stone and wood in order to help appease the Higher powers.
The construction of the Church of the Holy Savior started in 1520 and was completed in
1528 according to the design of Petar Andrijić, a master architect from Korcula whose family
is quite famous for their magnificent stone carving tradition.
Although the church has some Gothic elements (cross-ribbed ceiling and the side
windows with pointy arches), it is a good example of a Dubrovnik Renaissance building. The
frontispiece contains prominent Renaissance elements both on the portal and the three-leaved
semi-circular ending; in addition, the proportions of the church, semi-circular apse, the
complete picture reveals a clear and recognizable Renaissance building model.

The Rector's Palace is a harmonious Gothic and Renaissance palace with certain
Baroque additions. The palace owes its present shape to many additions and reconstructions
throughout its turbulent history.
As the document sometimes specify certain parts of the building, it could be deduced
that it was a building with corner towers, two wings, and the high wall which enclosed the
yard.After the fire of 1435 which gutted the building and its towers the government decided to
build the new and more beautiful palace.
The important job of rebuilding the palace was entrusted to Onofrio di Giordano della
Cava of Naples. Although the arrangement of the figures was gothic they could show
evidence of the early Renaissance spirit.
In 1463 there was a gunpowder explosion of the palace armoury which heavily
damaged the whole structure of the Rector's palace. The renewal was entrusted to the famous
architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi of Florence who was working on the
fortification of the City walls. However, his plans, new and vibrant with Renaissance spirit,
were not according to the taste of the notoriously conservative major council so the the plans
were rejected on May 5 1464. Michelozzo left Dubrovnik soon after and the work was
continued by other builders. The arches in the porch were reshaped according to the principles
of the Renaissance with completely new Renaissance capitals. The modernization of the
sculptural decoration was probably the work of the Florentin master Salvi di Michele who
directed the reconstruction from 1467 on.
The main changes of Onofrio's building were made on the western and southern fronts
where the former simple windows were replaced by a large biforas, 8 on the western front and
3 on the southern front. The biforas were carved by local masters Radivoj Bogosalić and
Nikola Marković while the relief ornaments and the portal were made by master Pavko
Antoje Bogičević.
In 1520 there was a strong earthquake and the palace suffered yet another misfortune.
One of the masters who has been working on the repairs was Petar Andrijić of Korčula.
The Great earthquake of 1667 was no exception and damaged the palace extensively.
The earthquake broke down the southern front of the palace with biforas. The wing was
rebuilt in Baroque style.
Today the Rector's palace is the home to the history department to museum of
Dubrovnik. There is one window on the Rector's palace that is quite different than all the rest,
it is the window on the northern facade. The only window completely done in the Renaissance
style is said to be the work of Michele di Giovanni da Fiesole.

Onofrio's Fountains
The fountain is embellished by 16 stone carved masks (maskerons) and a statue of a
dog that adorns the top walls of the fountain. The fountain was built in the 1430s. It was
connected by aqueduct system with springs located a few kilometers from Dubrovnik. The
fountain is designed as a huge central dome with sixteen water taps around it. Each tap is
decorated with a unique stone mask.