ANNALES, SERIES HISTORIA ET SOCIOLOGIA

Preserving the Past for the Future

Mojca Puncer, Vesna Žegarac Leskovar, Peter Šenk — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The aim of the article is to use a literature review to identify the dimensions of care from the perspective of heritage science, which is a highly interdisciplinary academic field. In this case, it includes philosophy, architec tural theory and a broader theory of care that should be addressed for a comprehensive study of concepts of care in architecture and architecture-orientated art. In the analysis of selected architectural heritage interventions, special attention is given to aspects of care and aspects of aesthetics in order to develop a new methodology for identifying and evaluating interventions in the built environment.

The Importance of Interdisciplinary Scientific Research for the Contemporary Interpretation and Revitalization of Neglected Architectural Heritage

Igor Sapač, Polona Vidmar — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This article addresses the issue of neglected architectural heritage through the example of Novo Celje Manor near Žalec in Slovenia and highlights the importance of interdisciplinary scientific research for the effective contemporary interpretation and revitalization of this segment of cultural heritage. Interdisciplinary research allowed for a thorough critical evaluation, correction, and supplementation of past studies and to prove that the Baroque Novo Celje Manor has evolved through a thorough transformation and expansion of the former Renaissance Plumberk Manor. The case demonstrates that interdisciplinary scientific research of neglected architectural heritage is significantly more effective than research limited to a single scientific discipline and that only such research can contribute to high-quality research results, forming the basis for planning successful sustainable revitalization of neglected architectural heritage.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Visual Arts and the Ethics of Their Use

Nataša Smolič — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The traps of artificial intelligence are more than the possibility to be inspired, to copy in order to create a perfect fake, or as a lie to deceive the public. In March 2023 and April 2024, at the Sony World Photography Awards, various photographers provocatively drew attention to the unwillingness of the profession and the public to recognise the presence and/or absence of AI tools. In April 2016, the result of the Next Rembrandt project was presented in Amsterdam. Just as the forger van Meegeren himself, some eighty years ago, secretly conceived a ‘new Vermeer’, this time experts in art, modern technology, advertisers and a bank have publicly joined forces to create a ‘legitimate forgery’ or ‘the next Rembrandt’. With the discovery of photography in the nineteenth-century, the end of painting was predicted. The opposite happened, it became a tool to help the artist preserve the desired image in memory and to create a work of art. The exploration of photographic processes led to the discovery that the precise perspectives and details in the works of the Baroque painter Jan Vermeer were possible thanks to the use of the camera obscura, although this is still debated. Its use was labelled as a fraud in the Renaissance and Baroque, but the image it instantly records is only a projection. To transfer this image to the canvas, however, requires the artist’s skill. Can AI explore new ideas, stimulate user creativity and help preserve and present cultural heritage? Operation Rembrandt, with its interdisciplinary approach, AI, computer and 3D printer, confirms this. Currently, two definitions prevail, the fear and excitement about the use of AI in art and art education, and the lack of ethics. Although the future of AI is still uncertain, it may be an appropriate tool to deepen learning, develop new tools and functions, and extend possibilities in unpredictable ways.

Virtual 360° Tours as a Tool for Promoting Cultural Heritage

Katarina Oštrbenk, Tjaša Alegro, Alenka Černelič Krošelj, Maja Turnšek — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Virtual 360° tours, digital replicas of real locations accessible anywhere with an internet connection, include 360° panoramic photos and interactive elements such as videos, audio narration, and textual descriptions. Their significance increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, when museums had to temporarily close their doors to visitors. After the pandemic ended, their use as a substitute for visits declined, but the question of their impact on the intention to visit the museum, i.e., for promotional purposes, remains. The paper presents the results of an experimental study conducted in 2023 with 165 residents of the Republic of Serbia regarding their responses to the promotion of the Posavje Museum Brežice. The participants were randomly divided into three groups based on the increasing modality of the medium they were exposed to: photos, a video, and a 360° virtual tour of the Posavje Museum Brežice. The results showed statistically significant differences between all three groups. The 360° virtual tours were rated higher than videos, and videos were rated higher than photos on the media experience variables: enjoyment, sense of presence, autonomy, and satisfaction. The intention to visit was significantly higher with the 360° virtual tour and was statistically significantly associated with the media experience variables. We discuss the results and the future use of virtual 360° tours in heritage promotion.

The Wreck of the German Lighter (MFP) F 956 near Piran

Danijel Germek — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

In the summer of 1944, the German navy in the Adriatic was at its peak. In the occupied Italian shipyards of Venice, Trieste and Rijeka, several torpedo boats were completed and put into operations. The first F-lighters, anti-submarine corvettes and destroyers were assembled. The leverage of the German navy in the autumn was great due to the Allied superiority in the air and at sea. The coast and the islands were not safe, due to the strong partisan movement. Towards the end of the war, the bulk of German logistics in the Adriatic depended only on F-lighters, which sailed only at night due to heavy air raids during the day. Not far from the town of Piran lies a wreck with the local name DTM Kec, it is the German MFP F 956 (Marinefährprahm). Built in Trieste, it was included in the 10th Landing Fleet on 14 October 1944. After two successful months of navigation, in the evening hours of 15 December 1944, it collided with the steamer KT 6 near Piran. F 956 was significantly damaged and began to sink. The steamer tried to tow it towards Trieste, but at the height of Strunjan, the MFP turned and sank. The so called DTM Kec is the best-preserved ship from the Second World War in the Slovenian sea and is the only shipwreck that still has its rich armament. It offers a good potential for divers and currently represents an important spawning ground and shelter for fish life.

Proverbs with the Word »Bee« in English, Italian, Lithuanian and Slovenian

Melita Lemut Bajec, Judita Giparaitė, Helena Bažec — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The article presents a cross-linguistic contrastive analysis of proverbs featuring the word ‘bee’ in English, Italian, Lithuanian, and Slovenian, aiming to explore common semantic fields, culture-specific features, the proportion of shared proverbs and their origins. Employing a mixed methods approach, the research integrates qualitative and quantitative data from a corpus of 255 proverbs. Five semantic fields were identified (innate qualities, indispensable bees, collectivity, warnings, and selectivity). The origins of these proverbs trace back to Classical times, Christianity, Medieval Latin, and folk wisdom.

Culture, Heritage and Sustainable Development

Marjan Horvat — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This paper investigates how culture and cultural heritage contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by transforming democratic and social practices. Moving beyond metric-based evaluations and collections of best practices, it proposes a deliberative-agonistic framework for analyzing the transformative role of culture and heritage. Drawing on Marit Hammond’s notion of deliberative democracy, culture is understood as a driver of political meaning-making and social transformation, while deliberation provides the conditions for redefining collective values. Against this background, the paper examines the theoretical foundations of the Faro Convention (2005), which introduced a “people-centered” paradigm linking heritage to social and environmental sustainability. It analyzes the interplay between deliberative and agonistic approaches in heritage governance, showing how conflicts over memory and identity can be transformed into productive democratic dialogue. The Charlottesville case (2017) exemplifies the tension between antagonistic, agonistic, and deliberative framings of contested heritage. At the macro level, comparative analysis of European heritage policies reveals that the capacity to integrate heritage into sustainability strategies strongly correlates with the quality of deliberation, as demonstrated by survey data and V-Dem indices. Deliberative contexts tend to enhance innovation, cohesion, and institutional trust, while agonistic approaches allow plural interpretations of heritage to coexist. The paper concludes that culture’s transformative contribution cannot be fully captured by existing SDG indicators. An integrative evaluation framework is needed—one aligned with SDG 16.7, which promotes responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision-making as a precondition for sustainable social transformation

The Principle of Sincere Cooperation in the European Union in Nationality Matters

Petra Weingerl — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This paper examines the principle of the European Union of sincere cooperation, with particular emphasis on its implications for nationality—a domain traditionally within the exclusive competence of Member States. It first outlines the development and legal significance of the principle, then considers its application in areas where national and Union interests intersect, using nationality as a focal point. The analysis centres on Commission v. Malta, a landmark case before the Court of Justice of the EU, in which the Commission contested Malta’s investor citizenship scheme. The scheme allowed individuals to acquire Maltese nationality without demonstrating a genuine link to the state, which the Commission argued contravened the principle of sincere cooperation, although neither international nor EU law mandates a genuine link in nationality laws. Given the impact that a Member State’s citizenship policies can have on other Member States through the concept of Union citizenship, the paper critically assesses whether such a link could be required under EU law. It concludes that imposing this requirement could unjustifiably infringe on national autonomy, as any “extension” of Union competence through the loyalty clause should only occur to facilitate Union tasks. Analysing Commission v. Malta, the paper finds that the Court linked sincere cooperation to the concept of solidarity and reconceptualised the genuine link by introducing a more flexible and legally ambiguous notion of a “special relationship of solidarity and good faith.” The Court’s reasoning thus rests on elusive concepts that risk enabling judicial expansion into other areas formally reserved to the Member States.

Operation of Power Through Gratefulness/Gratitude

Almedina Lozić — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This research constitutes a rare effort in examining how gratefulness/gratitude constructs refugees’/asylum seekers’ lived experiences by centring underlying presence of power. Power in gratefulness/gratitude is here de fined by using colonialism/coloniality framework to establish asylum as a continuation of those processes. Types of manifestations of gratefulness/gratitude that were explored were expressing signs of appreciation, confirming white saviourism and making concessions through integration, contribution to the new society and humility. Two main conclusions were made. Firstly, the study found that involuntary and voluntary expressions of gratefulness/ gratitude can overlap, meaning that even voluntary expressions can be tied to power. Secondly, gratefulness/ gratitude can take different forms; as a tool of control and marginalisation of refugees/asylum seekers, for obtaining benefits or as actual gratefulness/gratitude.