Home of Sea and Pines

written by Ante Nikša Bilić
architect Ivan Filipović

 
We consider Brela and its coastal toponym Soline the most beautiful coastline of the Makarska Riviera, and I would dare say, of the entire Adriatic Coast. Nowhere else do pines so intensely and theatrically overarch the Brela beaches. This natural phenomenon was recognized by Czech and German tourists some hundred years ago, thus creating a complete cultural and demographic transformation of the local population. At the beginning of the 1960s, the tourism architecture buildings, that are extremely important for the history of Croatian architecture, were created here. The Maestral Hotel, a unique example of the dialogue between nature and architecture, combines the energy of all participants in the design project: from architects Salaj, De Luca, Rožić to the designer of the interior, Bernardo Bernardi, to the art installations by Jagoda Buić, Edo Murtić and Vasko Lipovac. The Maestral Hotel is the vehicle of the hotels’ dispersion on the Brela coastline, the bastion-like Berulia Hotel by the architect Ante Rožić from the early 1970s being its highlight, as well as the later built cascading Soline Hotel by the architect Julije De Luca, erected in raw concrete with amazing interior streets of Scarpian character.