Recognisability and potential of traditional and artistic crafts as heritage of the city of Zagreb

Abstract

The topic of this research is crafts in the city of Zagreb, with special emphasis on traditional and artistic crafts. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the extent to which they are recognizable by the citizens of Zagreb, as well as to emphasize their potential for the development of cultural and creative tourism. The research was conducted in two stages in 2021. The first stage consisted of the mapping of traditional and artistic craft businesses and vacant commercial property in the city center, and the second stage included an online questionnaire survey on a purposive sample of 179 citizens of Zagreb. In order to understand the topic of research better, additional four semi-structured interviews with selected traditional and artistic craftspeople were conducted. Research shows that the majority of respondents consider traditional crafts an important part of Zagreb's cultural identity. Furthermore, the majority of respondents believe that traditional craft businesses and their products are not promoted enough in public. Crafts represent valuable tangible and intangible heritage of the City of Zagreb and have a potential for the development of cultural tourism of Zagreb. In this sense, and following the example of similar tourist tours in the world, a craft tour could be designed based on the work of traditional and artistic craftsmen of Zagreb, with the possibility of visiting their workshops and participating in the process of making products or their parts. This would be in line with the increasing demand and desire of modern tourists to be active participants and co-creators of experience rather than just be observers of the heritage.

Keywords

• traditional and artistic crafts, tangible and intangible heritage, cultural tourism, creative tourism, Zagreb