Description

A large colourful map in Croatian language (70 x 95 cm / 27.5 x 37.4 inches) shows transportation routes in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the late 1920s. Marked are quick and slow train routes, steamboat routes, planned railroads, roads good for cars, small roads, postal routes with public transport, car roads with public transport, border crossings, spas, state borders and capitals. The icons for gas stations and small train stations are left blank.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was founded in 1918 and was formed in 1918 by the merger of the provisional State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. It existed in the first half of World War II until 1943.

The map was printed in Zagreb in Slovenian language as an advertisement for a pharmaceutical firm Alga from Sušak by Rijeka (Fiume) on the Croatian coast. The firm was founded in 1926 by Vladimir Kezele and Vinko Budak and was named after a Budak’s product “Alga”, which was a huge success on the market for years. Two of their famous products: a massage oil and an energising drink are depicted on the present map.

They firm Alga moved into a modern Art Deco house in the town in 1926 and was investing vast amounts of money on a high quality design of advertisments in popular newspapers and in private ads and brochures. This map was made by a Zagreb based printer Rožankowski, who was famous for his glossy posters in the style of Art Nouveau, bonds and other elaborate prints.

Sušak, today a part of Rijeka, only became a city in 1919. Until 1924 it belonged to the Free State of Fiume (existed between 1920 and 1924). On 16 March 1924 the Free State of Fiume was annexed by Italy, but the attached Sušak was given to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, although the towns had joint administration of the port facilities. The government-in-exile of the Free State considered this act invalid and non-binding under international law and continued its activities.

The border on the sea between the ports of Sušak and Rijeka are marked on the map.

The map cannot be dated before the end of 1929, when on October 3 the name of the Kingdom was officially changed from Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by King Alexander I. According to late Art Nouveau style mixed with early Art Deco the map could be dated in the time around 1930.