About Istria

Basic facts about Istra

At a glance you can capture the richness of this diversity, from the Snow White of the nearby mountains, the waves of green fields and meadows, plains and valleys of the undulating countryside with vineyards and olive groves to the clear blue of the nearby sea.

When you walk into this beauty when you come very close to her, will enchant you with its every detail, church portals and gates, village streets with courtyards, archways and open stairwells, the gurgle of rushing streams and glades of flowering trees. Everything is so familiar and friendly here: nature, the settlement and the people.

Istra is the westernmost region of the Republic of Croatia, the largest peninsula on the Adriatic.
The west coast of Istria is 242.5 kilometers long, with the islands of 327.5 kilometers.
The eastern coast of Istria is 202.6 kilometers long, with the pertaining islets 212.4 kilometers.

The lowest sea temperature is in March ranging from 9.3 ° C and 11.1 ° C and the highest in August ind reaches 23.3 ° C and 24.1 ° C.

Istria is the largest green oasis of the northern Adriatic, along the coast and islands are covered with pine forests and the typical green vegetation. The main specimens of macchia are the holm oak and strawberry tree. The forests of Istria is covered with 35% of the surface.

History about Istra

The earliest evidence of the existence of prehistoric man in Istria date from the earlier Paleolithic. The age of the found in the cave of Sandalja stone chisel is estimated at 2 million to 800 thousand years ago. On the locality Sandalja II and in the Cave of Romuald, however there are recent finds from the Palaeolithic period.

Away) In the cave of Romuald (in Lim channel, 20 km from Pula and 13 km from the town itself was a lot of bones of various animals, probably the booty hunters found at that time. The cave, whose findings are actually evidence of the existence of people in the Old Stone Age, is a interesaantes späleologisches object in which one can even see a bat cave, and various ornaments. The cave was ganannt after a saint, the Romuald, who has lived in her three years and meditated.

Remaining a number of prehistoric finds from the Neolithic period (6000 - 2000 BC) bears witness to the beginnings of animal and grain farming and leaving only the hunter's life way. The production of equipment and tools will be improved, it also starts to produce even pottery.

Middle of the 2nd Century BC to the hilltops and elevations above the valleys, on the whole peninsula of Istria, the hilltop village, called Gradina. In Istria, there are more than 400 hill settlements, by a large settlement yet in the Bronze and Iron Age testify. The hilltop village, built with the help of special Technick without binder, were in the shape of an ellipse or a circle, and were surrounded by protective walls. The contrast was even greater hilltop village surrounded by defensive walls with a few belts.

The Romans introduced in Istria, with the rest of Europe, the first urbanization. Built roads and connected the towns, which had a significant refinement of the trade to follow. Along the entire west coast of the Adriatic, the Istrian Peninsula Quarries to see, from which the quality of stone for the magnificent Roman buildings has been obtained. The entire architecture, went from processing to the artistic design, an unprecedented perfection. Visible is today, among other things, or to the amphitheater of Pula, which was built from local limestone.

Large estates became state farms, known as ager publicus, which were occupied by Roman colonies and retired soldiers. Many were even the emperors, the members of the imperial family and their friends.

The villa rustica were used for residential purposes or a holiday by the owner. In the same villa, various products were produced, such as pottery, jars, bricks, which bear witness to nearly 300 ancient sites found in Istria.

The barbarous breakthroughs and parades of the Germanic Goths, led 476 of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, which ruled on the Istrian Peninsula, more than 5 centuries. But 30 years later the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Justinian, the Empire, which starts the Byzantine rule over Istria and to 751st lasts. Do on his conquistadores from Constantinople to Ravenna from Justinian 535, a new West capital, he built numerous monumental buildings. One of Ardennes is currently in Istria.

One of the most beautiful early Byzantine basilicas in Europe is located in Porec. It was named after Bishop Euphrasian, on the foundations of an old church in the 6th Century who built the magnificent Dreischiffbasilika.

In the first centuries of the Middle Ages various barbarian tribes invaded Istria. While the Avars and the Lombards were staying longer, Slavs spread over the whole peninsula and occupied many parts of the Halbinselinneren.

788 Istria was a part of the Franconian Empire. The new rulers introduced the feudal system, and promoted in urban estates, the settlement of Slavs, which the city lost its still inherited from the Roman era government.

After crushing and finally the collapse of the Frankish Empire Istria belonged first to the Italian Kingdom and later, 952, the Bavarian duchy and 976 to the Duchy of Carinthia. In the 11th Century Istria has been autonomous region under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch and a German feudal family.

The coastal areas and cities of Istria came under Venetian Influence in the IX century, It became definitely the territory of the Republic of Venice in 1267.

Venetian rule left a strong mark on the region. The Inner Istrian part around Mitterburg, was held for centuries by the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The venetian part of the peninsula passed to it in 1797.

The Holy Roman Empire ended with the period of Napoleonic rule from 1805 to 1813 when Istria became part of the Italian Kingdom and of the Illyrian provinces of the Napoleonic Empire.

After this short period the newly established Austrian Empire ruled Istria as the so called "Küstenland" which included the city of Trieste and Gorizia in Friuli until 1918.

After World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Istria was given to Italy.

After the end of World War II, Istria was included into Yugoslavia.

In 1991. Yugoslavia breakup and Istra become a part of Republic Croatia.