History
Traditionally, heads of state have attended the tournament. In 1818, king of Dalmatia and Austrian Emperor Francis I attended the games. In 1842 Archduke Franz Karl attended and Emperor Franz Joseph also attended, in 1875. Today, the President of Croatia currently takes part in the tournament annually.
The Alka held on August 20, 1944 was bombed by the Allies as part of World War II.
The Alka was held outside of Sinj only three times in its history: in 1832 it was held in Split, in 1922 in Belgrade, and in 1946 in Zagreb.
Read more about this topic: Sinjska Alka
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God’s property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)