PM reassures Sinj that Alka museum will built by August

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Saturday reassured local residents that the Sinjska Alka Museum would be completed by August when the 300th edition of this tournament would be held in Sinj, the Split hinterland.

The Sinjska Alka tournament commemorates a victory by 700 Croatian defenders of Sinj, about 30 kilometres inland from the southern coastal city of Split, against 60,000 Ottoman soldiers under Serasker Mehmed Pasha Celic on August 14, 1715. The final of this three-day competition is held on the first Sunday in August. The event features period-clad horsemen riding at full gallop and aiming their lances at an iron ring, called the alka, which is suspended from a rope above the race track. The Sinjska Alka tournament was inscribed on UNESCO's world intangible cultural heritage list in 2010.

During his visit to Sinj, PM Milanovic, accompanied by Deputy PM Branko Grcic and Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovic, visited the offices of the local Alka knights' society.

He promised that the museum would be finalised before the next edition of tournament this August.

Milanovic said that his cabinet set aside 12 million kuna from this year's state budget for that purpose.

This is our cordial contribution to the people in the Cetinska Krajina region, he said.

The total investment into the museum is estimated at HRK 25 million, the Alka knights' society head, Stipe Jukic said today.

The costs have been apportioned between the government and the local Split county.

(EUR 1 = HRK 7.6)

(Hina) ms

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