The Story Of Federiko Glavic
Federiko Glavić, one of the most significant citizens of Dubrovnik in the city’s modern history, shipowner and president of the Dubrovnik Steamship Company, was born in 1847 on the island of Šipan. He was the fourth of nine children and, in search of work and a better life, left the island at the age of fourteen and went to South America. In Chile, he amassed great wealth through trade in saltpeter, silver, and other minerals.
After nearly a quarter of a century away, he returned to Dubrovnik at the end of 1896. With the capital he had earned, he first began his social affirmation. He bought and expanded a house in the center of Šipan harbor, purchased and restored a summer residence in the Šipan field, and began building a luxurious villa at Pile (Villa Dubravka).
Photo Credit: Dubrovacki Muzeji
The Restoration of Gospe od Sunja
The rigid Austrian and later Austro-Hungarian trade and customs systems restricted imports and exports from Dalmatian ports. Only two “porte franco” (free ports) existed — Trieste and Rijeka, and before them Venice and Trieste. Therefore, all imports and exports had to go through these ports. Anything else was unprofitable, so Dubrovnik’s maritime entrepreneurs would register their businesses and ships in the home ports of Trieste and Rijeka.
When there was a real danger that Dubrovnik’s maritime economy — the only economic foundation of the wider Dubrovnik area — would disappear, Glavić took a bold risk. He invested a huge amount of money first in steamships, and then registered all of them with Dubrovnik as their home port. At a time when sailing ships had already failed and been replaced by steamships, this investment revived Dubrovnik’s shipping industry from the ashes.
From 1909, he was the largest shareholder, and after 1918, the president of the Dubrovnik Steamship Company, for which he renewed the fleet by acquiring new cargo and passenger ships. This success is confirmed by the fact that Dubrovnik entered the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) as the strongest maritime center, possessing the largest number of ships and being the leading maritime economy in the country. By 1939, the fleet had 25 vessels, two of which were cargo steamships named “Federiko Glavić.
In 1902, Glavić also advocated for the arrival of the railway and was the initiator and principal shareholder of the Dubrovnik tram project (1907–09). Naturally, the tram, imported from the Czech Republic, bore the coat of arms of Dubrovnik. It was the first major public-private investment in Dubrovnik.
Federiko Glavić also encouraged the establishment of the Dubrovnik Commercial Bank, becoming one of its founders in 1902. At that time, the bank was the only independent financial institution in Dubrovnik and contributed significantly to the development of trade, shipping, and the economy by providing capital to the city and its surroundings. He was also one of the initiators of the founding of the Dubravka paint and varnish factory in 1924.
His departure from Šipan into the wide world is accompanied by an interesting anecdote. Reportedly, as a fourteen-year-old boy, he fell in love with the daughter of an Austrian officer who opposed any relationship between his daughter and a poor boy. Disheartened, Federiko vowed to return one day as a wealthy man. As we know, he fulfilled that promise.
However, his resentment lingered, and upon his return, he bought a house directly across from the Austrian officer’s house and expanded it just enough to block the officer’s view of the sea. Sadly, it seems he learned nothing from his youthful trauma: he forbade his only daughter from seeing the young man she loved. Although the family tried to portray it as an unfortunate accident, it appears the young woman took her own life out of sorrow, leaving Federiko without heirs.
Federiko Glavić died in Dubrovnik on January 2, 1941. He was buried in a lavish family tomb at the very entrance to the Boninovo cemetery, which he had built after the tragic death of his daughter Marija.
Throughout his life, and especially after the loss of his daughter, he helped the needy in various ways and supported many initiatives. In his will, he left large sums of money to numerous cultural, educational, and humanitarian institutions in Dubrovnik.