It's quite surprising that in one of the basis texts in the media library there are some strange constructions, ironically in a text about the creation of an Esperanto system to weed out unnecessary 'ballast' to facilitate clear learning (La Zagreba Metodo).

In particular I was baffled by this sentence (referring to the realisation of the project): 'Fine ĝi estis tia kia nun' Which apparently means: 'Finally is was such a thing', or more clearly perhaps, that is was finally realised.

I was baffled because I can't think why or how 'tia kia' can create that meaning, or what function 'nun' performs, since the sentence implies past tense (estis) not something 'now'.

Why would something like: 'Fine ĝi estis realiĝi,' not be used? It is clear and means exactly what it looks like it means.

The key to the sentence is the combination ti— ki—, which is often encountered: tio kio, tiu kiu, tiam kiam, etc.

Consider the sentence: "I understood what I heard."
Expanding it a bit, we get "I understood that material which I heard."
In Esperanto: Mi komprenis tion, kion mi aŭdis.
Shortened a bit: Mi komprenis kion mi aŭdis.

Similarly, consider "I am what I am."
In Esperanto, Mi estas tio, kio mi estas or Mi estas kio mi estas.

Lastly, consider "Finally it was the kind of thing it is today."
In Esperanto, we might write Fine ĝi estis tia, kia ĝi estas hodiaŭ.
Compressing it: Fine ĝi estis (tia) kia nun.