Škratelj Homestead

The Škratelj Homestead is an ethnological monument that represents the architectural and regional cultural heritage but also is a birth place of the first Slovene film star Ida Kravanja (stage name Ita Rina). In 1998 the Municipality of Divača, in collaboration with the Slovenian Cinematheque and the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Nova Gorica, transformed part of the Škratelj Homestead, the residential building called the Škratelj House, into a museum in which the permanent exhibition on the actress – conceived by the Slovenian Cinematheque Museum Department – was installed. There are plans to expand the permanent exhibition into the Museum of Slovenian Film Actors which will also include a small cinema hall for screenings and workshops. The whole project is also supported by the Ministry of Culture, while the renovation works on the Škratelj’s homestead will be supported by the donation of Norway through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.

Škratelj Homestead

The Škratelj Homestead and its courtyard (borjač), a monument of 17th-century Karst architecture, represents the peak of the spontaneous folk architecture in the region. Its architecture is well-preserved. In the early part of the 20th century the homestead was the biggest and the most important house in Divača, a village resting on the edge of the Divaška Valley.

The exhibition on the first floor offers an insight into the life of Ita Rina and the development of Slovene cinema during her day.

Ita Rina

Born in the village of Divača, Ita Rina (1907–1979) was the first Slovene actress to achieve international star status – her heyday was in the late 1920s when she starred in the film Erotikon (1929) by Czech director Gustav Machaty, which enjoyed major box-office success both in Europe and in the USA.

The young Slovene actress Ita Rina first lived in Berlin, at that time the centre of the European film industry, and her debut was in the role of a chambermaid in Was die Kinder ihren Eltern verschweigen. After Erotikon she performed in the first Czech sound film Gallows Toni in 1930. She declined an invitation from Hollywood and instead got married, changed her name to Tamara Djordjević and moved to Belgrade. After World War II she starred in in several Yugoslav theatre productions and the Yugoslav film production War (1960), however she never managed to regain her earlier fame. In 1979 Ita Rina died in Budva, and was buried in Belgrade.

External links

Divača Museum website – Museum of Slovenian Film Actors under construction
Ita Rina on Wikipedia
An article at the EEA Grants page – Bringing Slovenian film history into the light
Review of Eroticon

Škratelj Homestead

Contents

Škratelj Homestead

Ita Rina

See also

External links

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