A series of important events this year, the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo "Batana" begins on the European stage, more precisely at the French sea festival Escale à Sète, the leading international event dedicated to maritime heritage. At the invitation of the festival organizers "Escale à Sète association" and the Association for the Promotion of Croatian Maritime Heritage "CRONAVES", from March 31 to April 6 in the port of the French city of Sète, the ŠRD Mandrač Tivoli association and the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo "Batana" will tell the heritage maritime story of the smallest and largest traditional ship of the Istrian sea through the program "From batana to tartana". Since the premiere edition in 2010, every two years the Escale à Sète festival attracts more than 300,000 visitors, about 120 traditional ships and almost 1,000 authentic speakers, which gives this performance exceptional importance and turns it into an opportunity to present various forms of maritime life in our area to a wide and targeted audience.

A CONTENTFUL AND DIVERSE PROGRAM OF WORKSHOPS AND EXHIBITIONS

A very rich program of exhibitions and workshops dedicated to maritime heritage, tradition and gastronomy will take place on land in the Croatian stand area and in the interpretation area on the ships themselves, the Pula "Tartana" and the Rovinj "Regina".
The photo exhibition "Croatian Homeland of the Sea" will use impressive scenes to evoke all the beauty of the Croatian coast, islands, traditional ships and life, and will be joined by some of the photographs from the exhibition "Ecomusej-Ecomuseo "Batana" a reference point of Rovinj identity".
Batana and tartana models made with the precise hand of the legend of Croatian ship modeling, Luciano Keber, will evoke the structural and aesthetic features of these traditional vessels.
Workshops of traditional knowledge and skills will introduce visitors to the skill of sailing with a lateen and lug through practical sailing demonstrations and a display of traditional skills in navigation and maneuvering, in which batana and tartana crews will participate. Visitors will be able to participate in workshops on making sailor's knots, maintaining fishing gear and mending nets.
Children will learn about the parts of a batana through a workshop on making small cardboard models and painting its main sail. 
The indispensable gastronomic Istrian heritage will be presented by the Istrian chef David Skoko, who will prepare sardines in savor and Istrian soup, and the team from the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo "Batana" will join in by making sweet Rovinj fritules and fioki. As always when it comes to Rovinj's maritime heritage, there will be no shortage of musical tradition, which is an inseparable part of it. Musicologists Alessio Giuricin and Ester Melchiorre will present the trademark of Rovinj - Rovinj's bitinàda through their workshop.

TWO SPECIAL EVENTS

Members of the Association "House of batana" and employees of the Institution "House of batana" consisting of Ennio Cherin, Dolores Smoljan, Maja Toplak-Farago, Roberto Zaharija, Alessio Giuricin, Ester Melchiorre, Alessio Sponza and Silvija Jacić in Sète and Nives Giuricin and Jasna Bešker in Rovinj will be involved in the realization of the entire program with a special emphasis on two events.
The first is the Croatian Day, which will be held on April 2nd, when, in collaboration with chef David Skoko, they will prepare salted anchovies and white cod with polenta for the festival guests, which will be served as small bites with a glass of wine from Rovinj winemakers. A unique experience will certainly be the Easter holidays, which coincide with the duration of the Escale à Sète festival.

An unforgettable moment for the members of the Croatian delegation, as well as the audience, will be the Easter lunch on April 5 on the deck of the "Tartana" and the Easter workshop of the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo "Batana" which will show traditional Rovinj ways of decorating eggs that participants will be able to take with them. Croatian traditional boats will also participate in a large promenade parade of all boats, and the crews in accompanying activities such as tug-of-war. You will be able to follow all the events of the Croatian performance on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo "Batana", where photos, videos and text will evoke the atmosphere from the Croatian stand, the presentation of the batana and Rovinj-Rovigno, but also the entire festival which will bring together a large number of lovers of the sea and tradition.