HEP 130 Years

130 years of Energy that drives Croatia The air in Šibenik carries a different weight at dusk. It is a city carved from stone, guarded by the towering ribs of Juraj Dalmatinac’s cathedral—a monument that has seen centuries of darkness and dawn. But 130 years ago, it witnessed a moment that would change the world before London, Paris, or Rome had even found the switch.

Our story begins in the grain of a flickering black-and-white memory. Through a sea of heavy coats and hushed whispers, a young boy pushes forward. He is the heartbeat of a crowd gathered in anticipation of the impossible. As the camera pulls back, the square reveals itself, bathed in that fragile, fleeting indigo of the Adriatic blue hour. Then, a click. A hum.

Under the shadow of the cathedral, the first street lamp in the world powered by alternating current flickers to life. In that golden glow, we see the boy’s face—not just illuminated, but transformed.

Recreating this moment was a dance with time and tide. To film in the height of the Croatian summer is to contend with a modern world that never sleeps. We stood in the busiest heart of the city, working in the narrowest window of light where the cathedral’s stone still breathed with ambient warmth, but the darkness was deep enough for a single lamp to reclaim the night. We silenced the neon of modern shops and extinguished the contemporary grid, plunging the square back into the 19th century. For a few frantic, beautiful minutes, the tourists vanished, the period-dressed extras held their breath, and Šibenik belonged once more to 1895.

But this campaign is not merely a look at the past. It is a reminder that HEP did more than just string wires across a young nation. As the light spread from that one lamp in Šibenik to the furthest reaches of Croatia, it began to illuminate things far more profound than streets. It lit up bold dreams, fueled new ideas, and opened horizons that were previously hidden in the dark.

Electricity may be the force that moves through the wires, but the "real" energy—the kind that truly drives Croatia—is the light we find in each other. Fitting for 130 year anniversary of the energy that drives us.