The Children’s Department of the Kaštela City Library, located in the historic Vitturi Castle, was filled with curiosity and creative energy from sixth-grade students of Ostrog Elementary School, who attended a philosophy workshop accompanied by their school librarian. The workshop was organized by the association Mala filozofija.

The workshop took place on Thursday, February 12, as part of the TRACE.hr project, which connects children with local cultural heritage and encourages critical thinking through forgotten local stories. The children read an old legend about the “monster of Kaštela Bay,” inspired by the writings of the 15th-century traveler Pero Tafur, who recorded that the washerwomen of Kaštela had seen a “monster shaped like a half-fish from the waist down, and from the waist up human in form, with wings like a bat.”

The discussion that followed raised questions about fear of the unknown, the origins of legends, and how something that appears frightening may in fact be misunderstood and harmless.

In the final part of the workshop, the children discovered that the “sea monster” was actually the Mediterranean monk seal — once a common inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea, locally known as the “sea man.” A special creative moment was the joint imagining and drawing of their own “monsters.” Both the children and the librarians joyfully participated in creating imaginative creatures.

The workshop demonstrated how combining cultural heritage, philosophy, and creativity can encourage children to think critically, develop empathy, and realize that the unknown does not always represent a threat, but rather an opportunity for understanding and learning.