2024

SEA ORGANS (MORSKE ORGULJE)

Natural site to discover
4.4/5
31 reviews

After the devastation of the Second World War, the chaotic reconstruction of the waterfront had transformed the esplanade into a giant and uninterrupted concrete wall. In 2005, an urban renewal project was launched. At the end of the river, the architect Nikola Bašić designed a staircase, made of ashlar (70 m) that leads down to the Adriatic. Under the steps are 35 organ pipes built in underground tunnels. A column of air, pushed in turn by the waves, blows on each organ pipe. The sound emerges above the ground through labiums (whistles), which play 7 chords of 5 tones each. The marine ebb and flow, with the breath of the water rushing in, thus creates a series of more or less loud sounds. The marine organ is one of Zadar's great sights. As a rallying point for the premises and visitors at the end of the day, it was immediately adopted. This unique urban creation is now part of the tourist circuits, as an extension of the promenade de la mer or the forum. In summer, there is a crowd; the mystical effect diminishes with the sounds and cries of the children, but if you are lucky enough to be accompanied by calm people, won by the inspired work, it is a place to meditate, between architecture and nature... Getting there in winter or on a stormy day, while remaining cautious, is another experience. The swell then hitting the organs, the aquatic roar resounds with force.

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