Mirjana Trošelj, prof.

Biography

Mirjana (Mira) Trošelj, MA, was born on 22 August 1949 in Starigrad-Paklenica. She went to school in Zadar. After completing secondary education in 1968, she studied and graduated from the Pedagogical Academy of Fine Arts in 1975, and from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 1980, majoring in Croatian Language and Literature (then Yugoslav Studies) and Art History. From that same year, she worked as a secondary school teacher in Nova Gradiška and Kutina, and from 1981 at the Health Education Centre in Zagreb (today the Mlinarska School for Nurses).

The discovery of MIRILA was a challenge, a riddle to be solved, a phenomenon that awakened magical-mythical thoughts in a curious mind of the 20th century. And so, in the 1970s, she began her systematic research on southern Velebit. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first words were spoken by the famous Velebitaši mountaineers. The second came from Prof Milovan Gavazzi, Dr Branko Fučić and Prof Ante Glavičić. It was time to push further. She began by writing down oral traditions, followed by documenting and photographing sites, taking rubbings of the rich ornamental designs, and categorising iconographic motifs and inscriptions. Her work started in the area of Starigrad-Paklenica and eventually expanded from Barić Draga to Modrič. She searched for parallels in central and northern Velebit, then in Ravni Kotari, Bukovica and the Dalmatian Hinterland. By comparing individual elements within the burial ritual, similarities and differences gradually came to light. The most striking difference was the visual artistic rendering, which was entirely absent in all other mentioned regions except on the mirila of the southern Podgorje. She also searched for connections between the visual motifs on mirila and medieval tombstones — stećci — particularly regarding astral symbols.
Her first publications appeared in 1980 in the journal Senjski zbornik, and from 1991 onwards, in Zadarska smotra.

Throughout her research into the cultural heritage of Velebit, she connected and collaborated with researchers from various fields. Particularly important was her collaboration with Ante Glavičić, then curator of the City Museum of Senj, whom she met in 1980 on Veliko Rujno. From 1981, she participated in several of his research expeditions across southern Velebit. Her research on mirila later proved vital to other researchers, including the archaeologist Aleksandra Faber.

In 1991, she joined the Domaća rič (The Native Word) project, organised by the Matrix Croatica branch in Zadar, dedicated to researching the vanishing spiritual, material and dialectal heritage of the southern Podgorje. In her efforts to promote the authentic Podgorje idiom, especially in toponymy and topography, she has published a series of creative and original contributions in the journal Zadarska smotra – Domaća rič from 1991 to the present day.

Much like Don Ante Adžija before her, she attempted to rescue the history and culture of the southern Podgorje inhabitants from oblivion at a historical moment when new civilizational flows, and with them a new worldview, caused this heritage to be deemed irrelevant by both the narrow and wider public. "Counting stones” during the tourism boom of the second half of the 20th century, and advocating for the preservation and protection of what oral tradition held to be "sacred stones", was not considered particularly praiseworthy. In fact, to the scientific and cultural public of the time, it seemed incomprehensible and absurd. Nevertheless, in the late 1990s, a new generation of educated young people emerged. They recognised the value of history and culture within the tourism offerings of Starigrad Municipality and embraced the idea of revitalising and protecting MIRILA — a cultural and unique phenomenon, worthy of Southern Podgorci’s pride.

 

Selected works on mirila:

• 2025 A contribution to the knowledge of astral symbols on the mirilo monuments of southern Velebit, Senjski zbornik, 52, pp. 139–160.
  Open paper – PDF
• 2017 A contribution to the study of the iconographic motif of the tree of the world/life on the mirilo of southern Velebit, Senjski zbornik, 44, pp. 311–331.
  Open paper – Senjski zbornik
• 2013 Southern Velebit mirilo from the research of Professor Ante Glavičić to today, Senjski zbornik, 40, pp. 611–629.
  Open paper – Hrčak
• 2010 Inscriptions and artistic representations on the Velebit mirila, in: A. Pleterski and G. P. Šantek (eds.), Mirila. A cultural phenomenon, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, pp. 63–76.
  Open publication – PDF
• 1992 A review of some characteristics of mirila on Velebit, Senjski zbornik, 19, pp. 73–80.
  Open paper – Hrčak
• 1981/1982 Ornaments and symbols on the southern Velebit mirila in the area of Starigrad-Paklenica (Part I), Senjski zbornik, 9, pp. 115–148. The bibliographic data is verified by the official bibliography of Senjski zbornik.

 

View full bibliography →

• 2025 A contribution to the knowledge of astral symbols on the mirilo monuments of southern Velebit, Senjski zbornik, 52, 139–160.
  Open paper
• 2017 A contribution to the study of the iconographic motif of the tree of the world/life on the mirilo of southern Velebit, Senjski zbornik, 44, 311–331.
  Open volume of Senjski zbornik
• 2013 Southern Velebit mirilo from the research of Professor Ante Glavičić to today, Senjski zbornik, 40, 611–629.
  Open paper
• 2013 Mirila – Monuments to Souls, in: Mirila – Intangible Cultural Heritage, exhibition catalogue, Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, Zagreb, pp. 30–69.
• 2011 Mythical Traditions and Legends from Podgorje in Southern Velebit, Studia Mythologica Slavica, 14, pp. 345–370. Although this paper is not exclusively about mirila, it stems directly from the author's field research and is highly important for their spiritual and narrative context.
  Open paper – Studia Mythologica Slavica
• 2010 Inscriptions and artistic representations on the Velebit mirila, in: A. Pleterski and G. P. Šantek (eds.), Mirila. A cultural phenomenon, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, pp. 63–76.
  Open publication – PDF
• 1995 A contribution to the study and protection of mirila on Velebit , Paklenički zbornik, 1, pp. 261–265.
• 1992 On the significance of artistic patterns and signs on the Velebit mirila, Zadarska smotra, 4–5, pp. 181–191.
• 1992 A review of some characteristics of mirila on Velebit, Senjski zbornik, 19, pp. 73–80.
  Open paper – Hrčak
• 1992 A contribution to the research of Velebit mirila, Senjski zbornik, 19, pp. 69–72.
  Open paper – Hrčak
• 1983/1984 Ornaments and symbols on the southern Velebit mirila in the area of Seline (II), Senjski zbornik, 10–11, pp. 58–72.
• 1981/1982 Ornaments and symbols on the southern Velebit mirila in the area of Starigrad-Paklenica (I. dio), Senjski zbornik, 9, pp. 115–148.