The exhibition presents the style of footwear widspread in the Dubrovnik area from the last decades of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, where on everyday occasions three layers of footwear were worn – wooll stockings, toe-socks and opanci or, approximately, leather sandals, characteristic of the Dinaric cultural zone, while for holyday and festival occasions they wore white stockings or „bječve“, and shallow red or green „crevlje“, or shoes, made of soft leather.
It especially features the woollen parts of toe wear – „naprsci“, which are remarkable for the numbers of them, the workmanship and the very distinctive ornaments picked out with striking colours. On the whole they come from Dubrovačko primorje. However, in order the better to emphasise their similarities and diferences with respect to decorative motifs, techniques of working, items that were worn in Konavle and on the island of Mljet are also exhibited.
The objective of the exhibition was to present and put an appropriate value on a previously neglected theme of the traditional footwear in the Dubrovnik area, and also naturally the technique of kniting, one of the techniques of women’s textile handicrafs.
Exhibition devised by: Barbara Margaretić