Zadar is a lovely old town, isolated from the office building bricks in the outskirts of the city by the sea, as the old, finger-shaped old town on the peninsula would turn its back to the ugly architecture, that preceded the town’s hay day back in the renaissance. There are many reasons to visit Zadar, one of them is to experience the free art installations of Architect Nikola Bašić – and hear the sea burp.
Audible Art
But not everything is old in the old town.
Architect Nikola Bašić created in 2005 an audible masterpiece with his Sea Organ, which consists of pipes, that produce sounds when the waves hit the marina. It is actually the sound of the burping sea, you hear!
However, this burping is a beautiful sound, like the gurgle you hear on the shore, when water caresses the stones, only enhanced. Maybe it’s the sound of the sea making love to the earth; sometimes gentle, sometimes violent, and the sounds are not burps, but sighs of pleasure.
Am I exaggerating? Come hear for yourself!
Solar masterpiece
And while you’re at it: just next to the audible masterpiece, you’ll find Nikola’s visual masterpiece Monument to the sun which consists of solar panels paved into the marina. During daytime the panels are charged with solar energy and in the evening and at night time, they give back to the starry sky, what the biggest star in proximity provided: a light show that is part disco, part art.
It’s a huuuge tourist attraction: everyone gathers here after they’ve eaten overpriced pizzas at the nearby plaza. And it’s worth the crowd!
