The Seminar on "Giuseppe Praga Dalmatian Historian, from Zara to Venice" will be hosted at Palazzo Zorzi on 2 October 2009. The event is jointly organized by the Società Dalmata di Storia Patria (Rome), Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (Venice) – in the frame of the initiative “In October it rains books” –, Società Dante Alighieri (Venice) under the umbrella of the Regione del Veneto.
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Marie-Paule Roudil, Chief of UNESCO Venice Culture Unit will make a welcome address at the opening of the one day seminar dedicated to one of the most important Dalmatian historians: Giuseppe Praga (1893-1958).
A graduate in Literature with postgraduate studies in Palaeography and Diplomacy at the Universities of Vienna and Padua, Giuseppe Praga was since young age keen on studies and researches related to Dalmatia, his native region, about which he carried out numerous thorough researches for various archives. Giuseppe Praga founded in Zara on 1926 together with other scholars the Società Dalmata di Storia Patria and was elected first President. He held other positions, among which Director of the Paravia Library (Biblioteca Paravia) and of the State Archives (Archivio di Stato). While Zara was bombed during the second world war, he found a haven in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana where he worked till his death. This refuge allowed him to save most of his personal archives, containing letters, transcriptions, documents, minutes related to the Dalmatian history and civilization. Giuseppe Praga published “History of Dalmatia” (Storia della Dalmatia), today a reference book recognised worldwide.
