The Naval Models of Father Gabriel Gruber
Gabriel Gruber was born in 1740 in Vienna. He studied in Graz, and became a Jesuit in 1755. He was an expert in hydrotechnology and architecture, but also had a basic knowledge of navigation and the history of seamanship.In 1769 he started teaching mathematics, mechanics, hydraulics and engineering at the School of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana. Shipbuilding, and port devices and structures were another two subjects taught at this school, and Gruber's wish was to build a dockyard nearby, which would have been too expensive an enterprise.
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| The Austrian Warship "Kaiser Karl VI.", 2nd half of the 18th century |
Before being included in the Maritime Museum collection, these models were kept in the National Museum in Ljubljana, still their current owner. Some of Gruber's workshop models were also exhibited in Pula, Croatia, but disappeared during the withdrawal of the Italian army in 1943.
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| Corvette model, originating from G. Gruber's workshop, 2nd half of the 18th century |
Other Gruber models exhibited in the Maritime Museum are the Venetian battle galley, the lagoon cargo galley, the corvette, the schooner and a framework used during ship construction.
Seamen's Votive Tablets
Only a small number of votive tablets are preserved on the Slovene coast, although small churches kept an endless number of them in older times. These were not the big parish churches, but small churches which could be seen from the open sea and were often situated in convents or even cemeteries. Unfortunately, not all the goods have been preserved in these churches, and some of the churches themselves are in ruins.
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| Seamen's votive tablets in the Maritime Museum. |
The largest collection of the seamen's votive tablets is held in the vestry of the parish and pilgrims' church of St. Mary's Appearance in Strunjan. Some originals and copies of the votive tablets from this church are exhibited in the Maritime Museum.
The pattern of these votive tablets follows the Italian tradition, differing from the pattern used in the rest of Slovenia. The seamen's tablets, presenting marine adventures and legends, are rich in fantasy, drama and dynamism. Along with the modest written sources, these illustrations are a precious source of information on naval history. In these paintings we recognise various types of ships (fishermen's boats with regional or local features, various cargo sailing and row boats, as well as paddle-wheel and propeller steamboats), all sorts of ship equipment (e.g. sails and trimming). The legends tell us the names of the ships, their misadventures (shipwrecks, pirate attacks, battles, etc.), where and how often they occurred, the trading and travelling routes, etc.
The votive tablets are rarely good paintings, their authors usually being self-taught or members of painters' workshops. These paintings are therefore classified as naive art.
There were, however some excellent painters, such as Vasilij Basi Ivankovic, an ocean navigation captain and author of portraits and scenes of life at sea.
(Duska ZITKO, Ex voto. Votivne podobe pomorcev. Koper, 1992)
The Collection of Ship Figureheads
In addition to the precious antiques found at the Maritime Museum, such as pieces of art, instruments and other ship items, figureheads are an important part of the collection. Figureheads are wooden sculptures which once served as prow ornaments on wooden vessels from simple fishermen's boats to cargo ships, warships and pirate ships. They have been used on vessels for thousands of years. Their role, once mystic, religious or superstitious, became increasingly aesthetic. As such, figureheads have been preserved to the present day, especially in northern Europe, France and England.All old maritime cultures believed in exorcising evil spirits from the sea by placing various symbols and figures on a ship's bow. Descending from old beliefs and traditions, prow carving became a genuine branch of art.
The 19th century, the golden period of sailing ships, saw the height of bow decoration. It was in this period, that skilled carvers gilded or coloured figureheads. Most figureheads found in maritime museums and in private collections around the world belong to this period. Their popularity is seen in the range of elaboration - there are good craftsmen's products and marvellous pieces of folk art but also fine masterpieces of the highest artistic value.
The figureheads on rich large ships often represented the owners or captains, characters from maritime mythology or female figures - personifications of various historic events or natural phenomena. They often symbolised the name of the ship. Sometimes they were carved in the form of a stem or a weapon, or another object, which in some way represented the ship's owner, or name or purpose of the ship.
It is well known that the crew took very good care of the figurehead, even protecting it against bad weather. A damaged figurehead would bring bad luck to the entire crew. The same would be expected if the figurehead should be used as firewood.
On the Slovene coast, only seven figureheads are preserved. They are a testament to a fine carving tradition. Six are exhibited in the Sergej Masera Maritime Museum of Piran.
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| photo Dušan Podgornik |
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| photo Peter Čerče |
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| photo Dušan Podgornik |
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| photo Dušan Podgornik |
(Duska ZITKO: Ladijske polene v koprskem in piranskem muzeju. Annales; St. 6. Koper, 1995.)
