Zadar on the Adriatic Sea

Thursday, 24 May 2012 - 01:47 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  5 minutes

Town Hall in the centre of People's Square © Böhringer Friedrich

Town Hall in the centre of People’s Square © Böhringer Friedrich

Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar is a historical center of Dalmatia as well as the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zadar. Zadar gained its urban structure in Roman times; during the time of Julius Caesar and Emperor Augustus, the town was fortified and the city walls with towers and gates were built. On the western side of the town were the forum, the basilica and the temple, while outside the town were the amphitheatre and cemeteries. The aqueduct which supplied the town with water is partially preserved. Inside the ancient town, a medieval town had developed with a series of churches and monasteries being built.

During the Middle Ages, Zadar fully gained its urban aspect, which has been maintained until today. In the first half of the 16th century Venice fortified the town with a new system of defensive walls on the side facing land. In the course of the century architectural building in the Renaissance style was continued and defensive trenches (Foša) were also built. They were completely buried during the Italian occupation until that in 1873, under Austrian rule, the ramparts of Zadar were converted from fortifications into elevated promenades commanding extensive seaward and landward views, thus being the wall lines preserved; of its four old gates one, the Porta Marina, incorporates the relics of a Roman arch, and another, the Porta di Terraferma, was designed in the 16th century by the Veronese artist Michele Sanmicheli. In the bombardments during the Second World War entire blocks were destroyed, but some structures survived. During the Croatian War of Independence, Krajina rebels and the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) (at the time under Slobodan Milošević’s control) converged on the city and subjected it to artillery bombardment during Operation Coast-91 in which they tried to take control of northern Dalmatia. Along with other Croatian towns in the area, Zadar was shelled sporadically for several years, resulting in damage to buildings and homes as well as UNESCO protected sites. A number of nearby towns and villages were also attacked, the most brutal being the Škabrnja massacre in which 86 people were killed.

View of the old city center from the bell tower of cathedral St. Stošija © Joadl View from tower of cathedral of St. Anastasia © Joadl The Sea Gates © Maestralno St. Donatus Church, a pre-Romanesque church from the 9th century © Marcin Szala Roman Forum © Maestralno Landward Gate © Maestralno © flickr.com - János Tamás University of Zadar © Maestralno Town Hall in the centre of People's Square © Böhringer Friedrich
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View of the old city center from the bell tower of cathedral St. Stošija © Joadl
The first university of Zadar was mentioned in writing as early as in 1396 and it was a part of a Dominican monastery. It closed in 1807. Zadar was, along with Split and Dubrovnik, one of the centres of the development of Croatian literature. The 15th and 16th centuries were marked by important activities of Croatians writing in the national language: Jerolim Vidolić, Petar Zoranić (who wrote the first Croatian novel, Planine), Brne Karnarutić, Juraj Baraković, Šime Budinić. Under French rule (1806–1810), the first Dalmatian newspaper Il Regio Dalmata – Kraglski Dalmatin was published in Zadar. It was printed in Italian and Croatian; this last used for the first time in a newspaper. In the second half of the 19th century, Zadar was a centre of the movement for the cultural and national revivals in Dalmatia (Italian and Croatian).

Read more on City of Zadar, City of Zadar Tourism, County of Zadar Tourism, Zadar Airport, Zadar Marina, Wikivoyage Krka National Park, Wikivoyage Zadar and Wikipedia Zadar. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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