History

Trogir - 2800 years of history

... and life in this "treasury of art" town were always in balance giving the world a magnificent picture of cool and peace, which was recognized by UNESCO. Visit Trogir and feel the lush beauty of stone monuments, the mystique of the streets and vaults, coolness of the sturdy walls and bastions, the harmony of color and form of paintings and carvings. Placed in the area of Mediterranean climate, Trogir with its 2700 sunny hours per year is a real treasure among other tourist destinations in Croatia. You can enjoy Dalmatian specialties prepared with natural ingredents, or classic continental food in over 100 bistros and restaurants in Trogir area. Do the evening walk through tiny streets and squares during the Trogir Summer Festival and enjoy in the Folk dances, Classical concerts in the cathedral, or Jazz nights on Radovan square.

Ciovo is the largest island

... in the Trogir archipelago which is located across the bridge connected to Trogir. The old Latin name of the island is Bu, Boa, Bave, or Babus, most likely from early illyrain descent. The island's first settlers trace back to ancient b.c. One can gracefully observe a multitude of old castle ruins. Fortified castles served to be useful and secluded this antique world. The Trogir museim today exhibits antique remains of a mirror discovered on Ciovo. During the Roman era Ciovo was a place of persecution of reputable heretics from different parts of the Roman Empire. For a long period of time during the Middle Ages inhabitence and building of any kind was forbidden on the island of Ciovo. Ciovo has otherwise served to be an escape island for lepers and hermits. This changed after 1420 when Trogir fell to the Mletacki (during Venice rule) government. Okrug is one of the oldest places on the island, established most likely at the beginning of the 15th century. It was traditionally a fishing and tourist establishment. Along the coast you can find St. Tudor's church (protector of the Okrug region). Also along it's mild seaside, Trogir's noblemen enjoyed spending their holidays in their summer homes.

The first inhabitant of Split

...was the Roman emperor Diocletian who started to build his palace in this triendly bay around 293 AD. After his abdication he withdrew to this luxurious palace of about 30 thousand square meters. The following turbulent centuries made the palace into a town first populated by the citizens of the nearby Salona, fleeing before Avars and Slavs. The town overgrew the walls of the palace and its authorities kept changing-from Croatian kings in lOth century AD, Hungarian and Venetian administration, to French rulers and Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Such past left its traces combined in the town everyday life. The city, however, went on remaining the centre of this part of the coast to this day. This mixture of historic layers brought some clumsiness and some things done too fast but today all that makes a part of its originality. The big city today lives by the silent beats of history, lively spirit of the young and its particular Mediterranean charm.

Did you know ?

Trogir & UNESCO

The entire Old Trogir city core is under protection of UNESCO world heritage. Trogir monuments, buildings and works of Art are selected (in 1997.) between very few cities in the World to represent world's culture and art treasure.

Kairos

The relief of Kairos, the Greek god of the happy moment, probably from the 1st century B.C., is kept in the Benedictine nunnery with the church of St. Nikola. Discovered in Spring 1928 in a abandoned house of the Stanosevic family. The Greek inscription from the 4th - 3rd century B.C., the oldest written monument in the area of Trogir, is also built in the wall of the cloister of this nunnery.

Portal of Master Radovan

Portal of Master Radovan, the entrance to the St. Lawrence Cathedral (finished 1240), is monumental and unique piece of art of Dalmatian Middle-age plastic, one of the most important monuments of Croatian history. The bell-tower of Cathedral of St. Lawrence is the tallest and most distinctive building in the Trogir area. It is a 47m high tower built in 3 different styles during almost four centuries.