Labin is a town in eastern Istria, where the old hilltop centre differs from the newer districts below. Over time, town life also spread beyond its walls.
Marshal Tito Square opens out before the entrance to the old town. Along its edge stand houses that adapted over time to public life outside the gate.
One is Naša kuća, also known as Casa Nostra. Its façade forms part of the continuous row of houses beside the square; it is clearest when seen in the context of its neighbours.
According to the town's heritage survey, the house was built in the first half of the 18th century on the site of an older Venetian tower. The survey associates it with the Callioni family and the former Caffe vecchio. A decision to proclaim the Labin Republic, a short-lived miners' self-government during the 1921 strike, is said to have been made here.
The building thus links the old square's bourgeois townscape with the working-class history of the Labin area. From outside it resembles other houses along the square; what distinguishes it is the historical event that the heritage survey associates with this address. Its present interior arrangement is not needed to understand why the house holds a special place in the town's memory.
Photo: 900026-0
HR-CRO - Croatia
