The Statute of the City of Karlobag (1757)

However, what makes this specific copy truly unique in the world is its incredible, two-century-long odyssey. Its pages hide authentic traces – true "scars of history" – proving how this small document narrowly escaped becoming ash in Vienna or Nazi plunder in Germany, returning to its homeland just in time.

1. The Imperial Legislative Commission in Vienna (Late 18th century)

Immediately after printing in 1757, this copy was sent to Vienna for the needs of the Legislative Commission (Gesetz-Commission) and the Supreme Judicial Office (Oberste Justizstelle), which were established by Empress Maria Theresa with the goal of unifying the laws across the Empire. This is evidenced by the oldest, round black-and-white seal written in old German orthography: „K. K. BIBLIOTHECK der ob. Just. Stelle und der GESETZ Com.”

2. Private Noble Ownership and Return to the State Fund (Early 19th century)

During the turbulent years following the Empress's death and subsequent office reorganizations, the book briefly passed into private hands. It became part of the rich legal library of the prominent nobleman Francesco Koller di Nagy Manya (Franjo Koller of Velika Manja), whose printed bookplate (ex-libris) still marks the page today. After this period, the document returned to the state, entering the holdings of the legally succeeding Imperial-Royal Supreme Court (K.K. Oberster Gerichtshof), as verified by a black rectangular seal. It was in this very location that the first Croatian antiquarian researchers documented the statute during the 19th century. An invaluable written record of exactly where the document was stored was left by Dr. Ivan Strohal in his 1911 book, "Statutes of Coastal Towns and Municipalities."

3. Relocation to the Palace of Justice (After 1881)

With the construction of the monumental Vienna Palace of Justice (Justizpalast) in 1881, the statute was incorporated into the new, unified collection, receiving its final Viennese mark – a round purple seal featuring the imperial double-headed eagle: „Zentralbibliothek im Justizpalaste in Wien”.

4. Between the Flames of Vienna and Forgotten Depots: The Journey to the Great Restitution

Although subsequent Austrian documents suggested that the Statute of the City of Karlobag was irretrievably destroyed or lost in the turmoil of World War II, the actual fate of this document was significantly different and far more fortunate for Croatian heritage. Official records from the Central Library of the Supreme Court of Austria (Zentralbibliothek des OGH) in the Vienna Palace of Justice reveal that the fate of the collections there hung by a thread during two dramatic historical turning points.

The first major threat occurred in 1927 during the catastrophic fire at the Vienna Palace of Justice, which destroyed a vast amount of archival and library material. However, the true drama for the remaining valuable works unfolded after the Anschluss in 1939, when Nazi authorities carried out a mass evacuation and transfer of the most precious books from Vienna to Leipzig, relocating them to the Reich Supreme Court (Reichsgericht). For a long time, Austrian experts justifiably suspected that the Karlobag Statute had been lost forever during that chaotic transport and Nazi appropriation.

However, an official response from the library of the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) in Leipzig confirms that the Statute was never received there, nor does it exist within their historical holdings. This crucial piece of evidence strongly indicates that the Statute somehow escaped the Nazi transports to Germany. The book most likely spent the war years hidden in secret Austrian shelters, monasteries, or salt mines in the countryside, where Austrians heavily relocated cultural heritage to protect it from Allied bombings.

Following the end of the war, the Statute was returned to Vienna, where it lay forgotten in one of the massive state depots for nearly four decades. It was not until the late 1970s, as part of international efforts to repatriate historical materials, that the document was finally located. The Statute of the City of Karlobag ultimately crossed the border and arrived in its homeland in 1979, as part of an official restitution of cultural assets from Austria.

Today, this surviving witness of time is proudly kept in the Croatian State Archives (Hrvatski državni arhiv – HDA) in Zagreb, within the collection HR-HDA-1633. The stamps and inscriptions it proudly bears are no longer just administrative marks of long-extinguished institutions, but living proof of how the heritage of Karlobag successfully outsmarted imperial offices, revolutionary fires, Nazi evacuations, and decades of oblivion, to finally return home for good.