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The beach is a place of hedonism, refuge and escape from everyday life and a "cultural arena" (Löfgren 2002), where the changes of epochs can be traced. As one of the main topoi in the global tourism market, the beach has become a "global beach" with stereotypical images of landscape that may suit any location by the sea anywhere in the world. The town of Dubrovnik is the most important historic tourist centre of Croatia and their town’s beaches are an important segment of the tourist offer during the summer, but also a part of the culture of living, places of belonging and traditional sport contests that are of significance to the local urban community. An ever growing desire of present-day tourists to be actively involved in a local culture when at a particular tourist destination, in quest of experiencing a place in a unique way, faces the local community with a constant renegotiating of boundaries when representing the local identities and traditions. In this paper, ways of determining the boundaries between extending of tourist offer and preservation of local tradition are being examined on examples of oldest Dubrovnik's public beaches, their cultures, heritage and the local, traditional, sport contest in amateur water-polo, named Divlja liga (The Wild League).

The beach as a fringe zone located between the land/culture and the sea/nature (Fiske 1983) incorporates the duality of an idyllic image of openness, as well as an image of containment. It is a place of hedonism, refuge and escape from everyday life and a "cultural arena" (Löfgren 2002) intersected with rules, norms and rituals, where the changes of epochs can be traced. As one of the main topoi in the global tourism market, the beach has become a "global beach" with stereotypical images of landscape that may suit any location by the sea anywhere in the world. But beach is also a living, local landscape that coastal communities identify as an area of daily and seasonal activities, of local cultures, histories and specific traditions. As a unique asset with a multitude of already established cultural products, the town of Dubrovnik has not withstood this duality, because its seashore, along with the historic center, is the most popular tourist attraction. The coexistence of different representations will be shown on the example of some of the oldest Dubrovnik beaches located within or near the town walls. On the one hand, there is the historical continuity of Dubrovnik bathing culture and its beaches as a part of urban social life, and on the other, the representation of the beach landscape in Dubrovnik's tourist promotion. The historic town center serves as the backdrop, increasing the attractiveness of the offer of Dubrovnik's "sun and sea", while the local tradition of beach culture is mentioned only as a curiosity in the destination branding. This coexistence, as well as the constant juxtaposition of these two representations of Dubrovnik beaches – a landscape of longing, anonymity, leisure and hedonism versus a place of belonging for the local community – will be shown through a historical analysis of written (newspapers, tourist brochures) and visual material (collections of photographs and postcards) from the Dubrovnik archives.

Plaža se određuje kao "liminalni prostor", "rubni prostor", "zona": geografski (granica mora i kopna), kulturološki (granice prirode i kulture ; poznatog i stranog ; odjevenog i golog tijela ; slobode i normi ponašanja), politički (pravo javnog pristupa i privatnog ograđivanja u svrhu komercijalizacije). Ona je popularno mjesto ispunjeno raznovrsnim značenjima, koje služi različitim potrebama i funkcijama raznolikom krugu ljudi. Plaža je stoga idealna za semiotička čitanja prostora i kulture. U mediteranskoj kulturi plaža postaje "dnevni boravak" lokalnog stanovništva, što su ulica i gradski trg dijelom izgubili. Na plažama se isprepliću življena svakodnevica, lokalne identifikacije, osjećaj familijarnosti i pripadnosti s turističkom imaginacijom bijega od svakodnevice, anonimnosti, dokolice i zadovoljstva. Dubrovačka kupališta i plaže vrlo su važan dio života, događanja i grupnih identiteta Dubrovčana. Pripadnost određenom kupalištu i sudjelovanje u događanjima i aktivnostima koji se na njima odvijaju dio su dubrovačke tradicije, društvenog sjećanja i reprezentiranja lokalne kulture. Cilj nam je sagledati teritorijalno ponašanje i s njime povezane kulturne prakse kroz analizu plaže kao javnog, sekundarnog ili čak primarnog teritorija, s posebnim osvrtom na tradicionalno amatersko vaterpolsko natjecanje dubrovačkih kupališta nazvano Divlja liga. Dubrovačko podrijetlo kao preduvjet sudjelovanja natjecanje čini iznimno lokalnim, a divljoligaška tradicija postala je važnim dijelom kolektivnog identiteta Dubrovnika i okolice. Divljoligaške utakmice na plažama ljeti, u vrijeme kada su preplavljene turistima, reprezentiraju lokalno zajedništvo, ali i vaterpolo kao "najdubrovačkiji" sport, "šestu dubrovačku tvrđavu". Raznolikost pogleda sudionika lokalnog vaterpolskog natjecanja, redovitih posjetitelja i turista na prostor gradskih plaža pruža uvid u slojevitost kulturnih i identitetskih praksi koje se na njima susreću.