The Croatian Ministry of Culture has recently put Motovun on the waiting list for UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Without any doubt, this is the status it deserves. As far as I can gather, the administrative procedure may take a couple of years, but this is great news already. I have contacted the ministry, and it seems the application has nothing to do with the municipal or regional authorities. It comes directly from Zagreb. It will take me a while to figure out what is going on, but it is likely that the local authorities are not very happy with these developments, for they cannot but interfere with their attempts to sell Motovun off to their own advantage. One way or another, the fate of our town is shifting. If it gets UNESCO’s protection, the game will change for the better. Much better, too. It is a bit early to rejoice, but rejoice I nonetheless must.

Addendum (August 30, 2016)

Nearly a decade later, Motovun is on the same waiting list still. To the best of my understanding, the Croatian Ministry of Culture is doing next to nothing to put the hilltown under UNESCO’s protection for true. The same holds for the Istrian authorities concerned with the peninsula’s cultural heritage. And the municipal authorities cannot do much on this score, either. Thus it seems that everyone is perfectly happy with Motovun’s present status. Forever on the vaunted waiting list, that is. I can only hope that it will be recognized as one of the World Heritage Sites before this institution is eventually disbanded together with UNESCO and the United Nations at its helm. Given all the givens, I would give it a decade or at most two. World heritage, my ass.