Gezicht op Split before 1878

This photograph of Split was captured by Franz Thiard de Laforest in the late 19th or early 20th century. In it, we see the city as a whole, a complex system of interwoven elements, watched over by the ever-present mountains. Consider the mountain as a symbol across cultures. In ancient Greece, Mount Olympus was the home of the gods, a concept echoed in other cultures with sacred mountains serving as bridges between the earthly and divine. This symbolic weight of the mountain as a center of the world makes us feel a part of a bigger, grander scheme. As the eye travels through the composition, the collective subconscious recognition of the mountain as a sacred and stable symbol evokes a sense of belonging and continuity. The city, nestled beneath the mountains, illustrates a continuous cycle of human innovation, adaptation, and our connection with the natural world. The motifs of mountain and city are not static, but forever changing, forever adapting, echoing throughout time.