A book review.
An Island Outside of Time
There are places that seem to exist outside of time. The Brioni Islands, a small archipelago off the coast of Croatia’s Istrian peninsula, is one such place. Through the pages of Brioni Islands, edited by Reiner and Sabina Opoku, one encounters a landscape saturated with history, a place that reveals itself as less a conventional tourist destination than a waking dream, possessed of both “morbid charm” and “cheerful absurdity”, as stated in the editor’s note.
The book brings together six authors, a rich selection of historical photographs and documents, alongside the evocative photography of Tom Wagner. The result is a collective pondering of Brioni’s layered legacy and its future potential. It is neither a travel guide nor a conventional history, but a profound cultural and artistic meditation. A comprehensive timeline at the end, spanning from 3500 BC to the present day, provides a well-researched overview of the island’s eventful history.
Tom Wagner: Photography as Time Travel
Tom Wagner’s photography forms the visual backbone of this book. Encountering Brioni’s peculiar atmosphere, a blend of natural beauty, architectural grandeur, and temporal displacement, Wagner has crafted images defined by meticulous symmetry, carefully composed frames, and a keen attention to the distinctive color palettes that characterize Brioni’s spaces, from the faded pastels of mid-century interiors to the vivid greens of its manicured landscapes.
By objectifying his compositions rather than staging them, Wagner allows the locations to convey their authentic effect. His creative approach was to capture images that are almost entirely unpeopled. Across the entire book, human figures appear only two or three times — most memorably as a blurred silhouette driving away in Tito’s Cadillac. It creates what might be perceived as a “time travel moment”: the viewer cannot help but wonder if that distant figure might be Tito himself.
Wagner’s interior photography elevates these spaces beyond their mere physical form. As Roland Barthes wrote: “Architecture is always dream and function, expression of a utopia and instrument of convenience.” This duality runs through Wagner’s images of empty hotel lobbies, abandoned sports facilities, and carefully preserved state rooms, now frozen in time, they invite contemplation of what was imagined, what was achieved, and what remains.
A Walk Through Layers of History
The essays together invite an imaginary walk through Brioni. One steps onto this terrain not as a mere tourist, but as a visitor guided by the voices of its contributors. The air is thick with the scent of pine and salt, and the first sight is of wild deer grazing placidly on manicured lawns, a living testament to the island’s status as a national park.
The Natural and Historical Foundation
Mira Pavletić, a curator from the park itself, acts as a field guide to the island’s tangible soul. Her essay The Cultural and Historical Heritage of Brijuni National Park catalogs a heritage that stretches from dinosaur footprints embedded in ancient stone to Roman ruins, from Austro-Hungarian fortifications to elegant twentieth-century sculptures. She details the ongoing efforts to preserve and present this history through educational trails, exhibitions, and careful conservation work.
The Kupelwieser Era
Josef Mugler’s essay The Kupelwieser Era: Paul Kupelwieser’s Brioni recounts the tale of the Austrian industrialist who, in 1893, purchased the malaria-infested archipelago for 75,000 gulden and envisioned transforming it into a world-class health resort. With the help of Nobel laureate Robert Koch, Kupelwieser literally willed this paradise into existence by eradicating the disease. Mugler’s text grounds the island’s dream-like quality in a history of finance, science, and sheer entrepreneurial force, revealing a foundational myth born from a singular, ambitious vision that would ultimately consume Kupelwieser’s fortune and his family’s future.
Brioni as a Political Stage
It is easy to imagine the sleek silhouette of Tito’s Cadillac gliding past, carrying the Yugoslav leader to his White Villa. Historian Jan Eike Dunkhase analyses this world with remarkable depth in Islands of the Nonaligned: Tito’s Brioni and Its Legacy.
He reveals how Brioni became far more than a summer residence: it was the European home base of the Non-Aligned Movement itself. In July 1956, Tito hosted India’s Nehru and Egypt’s Nasser here for a historic summit. The resulting Brioni Declaration condemned the division of the world into power blocs and championed “peaceful and active coexistence,” setting the stage for the founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade in 1961. Over the following decades, Brioni welcomed 90 heads of state. In August 1971, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor arrived, adding Hollywood glamour to Brioni’s already legendary status.
Dunkhase also decodes the symbolism embedded in the island’s landscape. The safari park, with its exotic animals, zebras from Africa, elephants from India, is not merely a zoo but a living museum of Cold War diplomacy, each creature a gift from a world leader. In a world increasingly defined by division, Dunkhase demonstrates that Brioni stands as a reminder of what the Non-Aligned Movement once represented.
Myth, Theatre, and the Future
An Italian Intermezzo
This layering of realities creates a surreal atmosphere that feels cinematic, reflected in Luca Pizzaroni’s brief but vivid Italian Intermezzo: Memories of Italian Spaghetti. Written as a fictional narrative that blends historical figures with a playful, postmodern sensibility, his piece is like seeing the island through a distorted lens, where the past is not a fixed story but a fluid myth open to reinterpretation.
Art Reclaims the Ruins
The walk leads across the water to Mali Brijun, toward the imposing form of the old Austro-Hungarian fortress. Here, actor Rade Šerbedžija’s deeply personal letter Ulysses: A Long-Lasting Experiment describes the founding of the Ulysses Theatre within these derelict military walls in 2001. Together with his wife Lenka Udovički and writer Borislav Vujčić, Šerbedžija transformed a space of conflict into a vibrant international stage for Shakespeare and other classical works. He recounts performing King Lear for 24 years on these windswept ramparts — a testament to Brioni’s ongoing cultural revival.
Islands of the Future
Standing atop the fortress, looking out at the Adriatic, all these voices converge. The late Thomas Kellein’s foreword, Brioni: The Islands of the Future, offers a fitting conceptual coda. Kellein suggests that Brioni’s unique blend of carefully managed nature and layered history offers a path forward, a potential model for sustainability and cultural innovation.
Conclusion
The book’s strength lies in its refusal to offer a single, definitive interpretation of Brioni. Instead, it presents multiple perspectives — historical, political, artistic, curatorial, personal — that together create a rich portrait. Editors Reiner and Sabina Opoku have carefully curated this chorus of voices, creating a volume that is both historically enlightening and artistically resonant.
Brioni’s true value lies in its capacity to inspire. In an increasingly fractured world, the need for places that encourage dialogue, reflection, and the thoughtful blending of nature and culture has never been greater. For Croatia, it is a treasure worth celebrating. For the rest of us, it is a reminder that even in our troubled times, islands of possibility still exist.
All photographs: Tom Wagner
Edited by Reiner and Sabina Opoku, published by Skira, Milan 2025, 324 pages, Size: 23×27 cm, Language: English, ISBN: 978-88-572-5468-5 (Skira)
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