About the Cover Illustration

The figure on the cover of iOS in Practice is captioned “A man from Kastela, near Split, Dalmatia, Croatia.” The illustration is taken from a reproduction of an album of traditional Croatian costumes from the mid-nineteenth century by Nikola Arsenovic, published by the Ethnographic Museum in Split, Croatia, in 2003. The illustrations were obtained from a helpful librarian at the Ethnographic Museum in Split, itself situated in the Roman core of the medieval center of the town: the ruins of Emperor Diocletian’s retirement palace from around AD 304. The book includes finely colored illustrations of figures from different regions of Croatia, accompanied by descriptions of the costumes and of everyday life.

Kastela is a series of seven towns located on the Adriatic coast in central Dalmatia. Once an ancient Greek port, a stopover point for the Roman army, and a summer place for Croatian kings, Kastela today is a popular tourist resort. Along its long sandy beach there are many terraces and lookout points, surrounded by pine and tamaris trees. The figure on the cover is wearing black woolen trousers and a jacket over a white linen shirt. His costume is richly trimmed with the colorful embroidery that is typical for this region. He wears a red cap on his head and in his hand he holds a long pipe.