Karlovac(i) talk

Bottlenecks cause trouble.

Four rivers merge at Karlovac, Croatia. The Kupa (ending up at the Sava who in turn meets the Danube) and its tributaries bring down the waters of the Dinaric col in parallel flows. The area often experiences flooding, especially when snow melts.


But the town is also at a geopolitical bottleneck, not just a hydrological one. It is 15 km away from Slovenia and 50 from Bosnia, twice a border town despite being at the heart of the country. It was an outpost from its very foundation, by a Karl of the Habsburgs who had to face the Ottoman spearhead in the vicinity. Hence it was exemplarily fortified, with moats preserved today as a six-ray park known as Zvijezda, the star.


Only during the years of united Yugoslavia had Karlovac ceased being next to a national border. Many people didn't know it or confused it with the Karlowitz of the namesake treaty (this one is in modern-day Serbia, they aren't identical). Locals seem to have preserved historical memory. Before the attack of the "Yugoslav National Army" broke out, inhabitants smelt the gunpowder. In the autumn of 1991, the defence front of Croatian forces was at the southernmost of four rivers (the Korana). The town still hasn't recovered from the damage to its industrial production. 

Karlovac bus station during the days of 1991

Karlovac is peaceful but also melancholic nowadays. The current serene impression (close to dead quiet) on the road dividing the bus and train stations has no relation to the bombed scenery in the photo from 1991. In the main square, the Catholic and Orthodox churches coexist but are almost hidden from the visitor - standing there without info signs, like relatives who got sour just before the party and forget to introduce themselves to guests.  

St. Nicholas Orthodox church (left) and Holy Trinity Catholic church (right). Karlovac, Croatia

In a timid attempt to open up to the world, Karl's town hosted a small exhibition on the day of Croatia's accession to the E.U., in 2013. Perhaps because - apparently - there is no "sister town" yet, the exhibition presented several other European cities as related due to homonymous names. All, but one, are related to some Karl [Charles] - a different one from the Austrian that founded Karlovac in the 16th century (as Karlstadt), but never mind.
 

To make the exhibition bigger, however, the organizers included the glorious Karlovasi of the Eastern Aegean in the honoured cities. I confess that as a Samian I had been impressed by the similarity of names when I first heard of the Croatian town at the time of the Yugoslav wars. Now that my island's second town has become known here, it may be worth for history researchers to add one more possibility to the mystery of its name, for which no single explanation has proven satisfactory so far - "karlı ovası" is in bad Turkish and supposed to mean snow-clad plain, which is hard to witness on Samos, whereas an etymology related to settlers from Ikaria island, "(I)Kario-va-si", sounds equally implausible too.
 

I cannot tell if Karlovac, founded shortly before Karlovasi was first recorded, had been a source of inspiration for Samos settlers. Imitation is not just a modern habit; it was not uncommon back then either. The only certainty is that, 400 years later - i.e. in the early 1900s - Karlovasi was the only island town on the Aegean that boasted a specific transport means, one that has been historically associated with the urban milieu of the onetime Austro-Hungarian domain. Tram, in its horse-drawn variety, existed prior to the war in Karlovasi, as in Karlovac. Can this be just a coincidence?

Horse-drawn tram at Karlovac