Croatia plans to tie a giant knot in red thread round its 4,000 kilometers

www.academia-cravatica.hr

Tue Jul 11, 7:51 AM ET
ZAGREB (AFP) - Croatia plans to tie a giant knot in red thread round its 4,000 kilometers (2,480 miles) of borders to promote the country's cultural heritage and identity, organizers have said.

The project 'Tie Around Croatia' was officially launched in the southern Adriatic town of Dubrovnik, where it will also conclude with a ceremonial tying of "the smallest knot of the biggest tie", they said on Tuesday.

The main idea of the artistic installation is to link all Croatian diverse regions into a symbolic whole, the head of the Academia Cravatica, a non-governmental organization behind the project, Marijan Busic, told local media.

The word croata can be found in many languages as the root of words meaning tie or cravat, so called because they were worn by Croatians in the French army during the Thirty Years War in the 17th century.

Over the next 60 days, a team of four mountaineers and three journalists will install the red thread along the country's borders.

In 2003 the Academia dressed up an ancient Roman amphitheatre in the northern Adriatic town of Pula with an 800-meter (2,640-foot) red tie, breaking the world record.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060711/od_afp/croatiaoffbeat_060711115103