In the year when Sinj is preparing for the 300th Alka tournament – everything is succumbed to it. The Alka procession has already visited Zagreb and they’ve been strolling the streets of Bruxelles these last few days. A documentary is in the making with settings in the Knin fortress and an recently built movie set in Glavice. These activities include the HRT (Croatian Radio and TV).
We, guides, and most citizens of Sinj, find the opening of the Alka of Sinj Museum, the most important event. It is what will be left after all the fame of the 300 years had passed and what we’ll pass on to our children and what will enable the city to live and breathe the Alka 365 days of the year. The first top museum that comes to mind is the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. This is one that will not leave indifferent as it is worthy of many metropolises being as it is: interactive, intersting, educational and full of well presented information. Such is the museum that we desire for the inhabitants of Sinj and Cetina region. According to what has been published and presented thus far – it is exactly what they should get.
When you are trying to depict to Germans or Koreans in the middle of a vast and empty Alkarsko trkalište street (where the tournament is held), all that splendour, grandness, pride and hapiness, trust us, you don’t have it easy – having a VAD (The Alka Knights society) calendar with large photos of the latest Alka comes in handy. You become more edek guides and less tour guides. Even knowing how to say heron’s feather or baize dolman or waistcoat in all those languages sometimes doesn’t help.
Once the museum opens it will be much easier to explain why Alka was important 300 years ago and why it is still important. The only problem that might occur is that the museum’s working hours will be insufficient for all the Alka fans and those that will about to become Alka fans.