The ECA council, at its meeting of August, 27th, 2011 in Madrid, Spain, decided by majority of votes, that the 29. European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM29) will be held in Rovinj, Croatia. Croatian Crystallographic Association presented its bid to host the ECM29 at the ECA Council Meeting of August 25th, 2011.
Three Croatian hearts to welcome the participants of the ECM29 in Rovinj: (left) a heart shaped thiolactone, structure solved by Croatian crystallographer Krešimir Molčanov; (middle) a heart shaped Croatian island – one of 1244 islands in Croatian Adriatic; (right) gingerbread heart – a traditional souvenir and one of eight intangible Croatian cultural treasures protected by UNESCO.
The Croatian Crystallographic Association presents the bid to host the ECM29 in Rovinj, Croatia
Dear colleagues
It is our honour to inform you that the Executive Committee of the Croatian Crystallographic Association (CCA) decided, at its meeting of May, 23, 2011, to accept with a great pleasure the invitation of the European Crystallographic Association to present a bid to host the 29. European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM29) in Croatia. The ECM29 is to be held from August, 23 to August, 28 in Rovinj, a town of a unique beauty, located on the Istrian coast, in northern Adriatic. Rovinj, as a famous tourist destination with almost a century long tradition, becomes, during the summer a temporary home for more than 30.000 visitors in a variety of the accommodation facilities, ranging from the designed luxury five-stars hotels, to charming private appartments, rooms, villas and tourist resorts. As a conference venue, Rovinj has a lot to offer – from a fascinating old tobacco factory which is now completely renovated and transformed to a event venue of the highest rank, to several fully equipped hotel congress centres.
Numerous cultural events, gastro festivals, wine cellars and excursion opportunities complete the image of a perfect Mediterranean convention paradise. In the surroundings of Rovinj are the town of Pula, with its perfectly preserved roman amphitheatre and the Forum Romanum, as well as the Brijuni national park – the archipelago of an exceptional beauty and a former summer residence of the Austro-Hungarian emperors, and Yugoslav political elite. Last but not the least, Rovinj is suitably connected to the world as it is located just 40 km away from the international Pula airport, while the airports of Rijeka and Trieste are just about 100 km away. The Organizing Committee will make every effort to ensure the safety and well-being of all participants of the ECM29. Croatia is recognized as one of the safest tourist destinations on the Mediterranean. As we write this letter, Croatian and European negotiators are discussing the final details of the accession procedure to the EU and the date when Croatia will become the 28th member state of the European Union (presumably, July, 1, 2013). We would greatly appreciate your official support to our bid to host the ECM29. The bid will be presented during the IUCr Meeting this August in Madrid, Spain. For the details, please contact dr Aleksandar Višnjevac, president of the bid committee of the ECM29, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia, e-mail: aleksandar.visnjevac@irb.hr.
Sincerely,
Dr Aleksandar Višnjevac
President of the bid committe of the ECM29
Prof. dr Stanko Popović
President of the Croatian Crystallographic Association