The Archaeological Museum of Istria has opened another Window to the Past with Aleksandra Mahić Sinovčić's The Laver as Witness of the Past: The Gavardo Family Legacy exhibition, open for viewing at No. 4 Carrarina street through to 27 January 2026 and accompanied by a trilingual catalogue.
The exhibition showcases one element of the Gavardo family wall laver. These washbasins, a kind of fixed stone furniture, were a common feature of interior furnishings in the 15th and 16th centuries. In sacral architecture, they were located in sacristies and used in purification rituals, while in residential and monastic spaces they had a practical and hygienic purpose, i.e., for washing hands, face, dishes, and the like. Their placement was carefully planned, as they were built into the wall with pre-made water inlets and outlets. Their form and positioning tell us much about the social status of the owners. Lavish examples were installed in the main rooms of the houses of wealthy citizens and the nobility, often decorated with coats of arms, figural motifs, and decorative elements of the Gothic and Renaissance styles.
The exhibited fragment of a laver, decorated with a relief depiction of a lion's head and the coat of arms of the Gavardo family, is a remnant of such a washbasin from the second half of the 15th century. The Gavardo's were a Kopar-based family of northern Italian roots, and traces of their activity in Istria date back to the 13th century. In the 15th century, they joined the ranks of the Pula nobility. Although the exact location of their house in Pula is unknown, this stone fragment provides material evidence of their presence in the city.
The exhibition setup and the graphic design of the catalogue and invitation were created by Vjeran Juhas.
