The Museum of Betina Wooden Shipbuilding is presenting plans, contracts, photographs and family material belonging to a shipbuilder who combined traditional yard knowledge with technical drawing, new regulations and international commissions.
The exhibition opens on 5 September
The Museum of Betina Wooden Shipbuilding will open the exhibition Šime Šandrić u linijama broda — Šime Šandrić in the Lines of a Ship — at 7 pm on Saturday, 5 September 2026. The venue is the museum in Betina on Murter.
The museum announcement gives neither a closing date nor any special admission conditions. Anyone unable to attend the opening should therefore confirm the date of their visit, opening hours and ticket availability directly with the museum.
Šandrić first learnt in the family shipyard
Šime Šandrić was born in 1922 and grew up in a Betina shipbuilding family. His earliest knowledge came from the yard: shapes, dimensions, timber, sequences of work and the experience of older masters were passed on beside the boat taking form.
This practical knowledge was precise, but was often not documented in the form later required by larger businesses, authorities or international clients. The exhibition focuses on exactly this transition.
Technical drawing made knowledge transferable
Lines plans, body plans and construction drawings translate a three-dimensional hull form into verifiable drawings. They allow dimensions to be compared, materials to be planned, changes to be discussed and a design to be understood beyond the immediate workshop.
Šandrić combined the craft learnt in the family business with this technical language. The exhibition does not set manual skill against theory; it shows how the two together modernised wooden shipbuilding.
New regulations also changed traditional yards
Larger boats, motorisation, new safety requirements and formal inspection all increased the need for documentation. A hull had not only to function, but also to be traceable through plans, calculations and contracts.
The museum presents Šandrić as a shipbuilder and technical manager who helped carry this development forward. Only the exhibited material can show in detail which particular regulation underpinned which design; a sweeping story of progress would be too simple.
International commissions broadened the horizon
The material on display includes documents relating to vessels and projects beyond the narrow local market. Designs for Algerian trawlers provide a particularly vivid example: familiar work in timber met different operating profiles, dimensions and contractual requirements.
International work did not mark the end of Betina's tradition. Instead, it compelled that knowledge to adopt a language that clients, technical bodies and shipyards could share across local and linguistic boundaries.
Plans, contracts and notes tell different stories
A completed plan shows the intended form. Contracts show deadlines, deliverables and responsibility. Notes document decisions made along the way, photographs record the actual build, and family material reveals the people behind the professional role.
The exhibition's strength therefore lies in this combination. No single document can explain a working life; together, the materials reveal how practical experience, business, bureaucracy and design interlocked.
Betina's wooden shipbuilding is living heritage
Betina is not merely a place of old boats. Restored and newly built wooden vessels, active craftspeople, regattas and the museum keep this knowledge in use. The exhibition adds its technical and organisational dimension to that picture.
Anyone expecting only romantic workshop scenes will miss a crucial part of the story: wooden shipbuilding was also engineering, costing, knowledge of regulations and communication with clients. That is precisely why Šandrić's life provides such a strong narrative thread.
What visitors should check before travelling
The opening date, time, location and subject are confirmed. At the time checked, the duration of the exhibition, any separate ticket and a complete accompanying programme had not been published. These gaps should not automatically be filled with the museum's general opening hours.
Anyone making a special trip should therefore check the museum website again shortly before visiting. The official artwork, historic portraits and published plans already provide a good impression, but the original material reveals its full value only in the exhibition.
Evidence
Sources & date
Sources support the facts. Planning notes and recommendations are Golden Beach editorial assessments.
Time-sensitive information may change. Please check the linked primary source before travelling.
