Mystery of love, goiter and death in flu pandemic.

Abstract

Ivan Mestrovic (1883-1962), a Croatian sculptor and architect, portrayed his close friend Marija Banac (born Racic) with a goiter. She died from flu in 1918 in Rome, just few days apart from her brother Edi Racic and his fiancée. In the tragic memory of the Racic family that disappeared in the burst of a terrible pandemic, Mestrovic built a church and mausoleum in Cavtat near Dubrovnik.