A Million Visitors Have Passed Through the Homeland War Museum
War photographs by Željko Gašparović at the Imperial Fortress bring authentic scenes from the final liberation operation of the Croatian Army and Police in 1995.
War photographs by Željko Gašparović at the Imperial Fortress bring authentic scenes from the final liberation operation of the Croatian Army and Police in 1995.
On the 31st anniversary of the military-police operation Storm, the exhibition "Operation Storm in Banovina 1995" opened at the Imperial Fortress on Srđ in Dubrovnik. The display features war photographs by Željko Gašparović, a man who was on the ground and captured authentic scenes of the liberation of occupied Croatian territory.
Gašparović donated to the Dubrovnik Homeland War Museum photographs from Banovina taken during the operation itself, as well as footage from 1992 from the Southern Front, where he followed members of the 1st Guards Brigade, the Tigers. This directly links the story of Operation Storm to Dubrovnik's wartime experience and shows that the final operations of 1995 were not an isolated event, but the culmination of years of defense and liberation of Croatia.
The Dubrovnik Homeland War Museum, which hosts the exhibition, has so far attracted a million visitors with its displays. Dubrovnik's mayor, Mato Franković, emphasized the importance of the institution. "With few words but a wealth of evidence, photographs, and documents, the museum conveys the truth about hard-won freedom," Franković said, adding that this work is important not only for domestic visitors but also for the international public.
The museum's director, Varina Jurica Turk, stressed the enduring value of the exhibited testimonies. "War photography preserves the visual memory of a people and remains one of the most valuable historical sources," said Jurica Turk. The exhibition is part of the multi-year project "Croatian War Photography."
The Imperial Fortress also hosts the exhibition "Storm 1995-2025." On the same day, August 5, 2026, on Dubrovnik's Stradun, during a concert by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, a virtual exhibition titled "The Road to Freedom 1991-1995" will be shown, continuing the anniversary commemoration at multiple locations in the city.
The photographs from the Imperial Fortress do not depict Operation Storm through subsequent political interpretation, but from the perspective of a witness who was on the front line. Precisely for this reason, as the organizers note, they leave the least room for those who would wish to reshape or diminish the Croatian victory.