Maps of Power

Zadar

Jadera, Zara

Properties

ID 118242
System Class Place
Case Study Beyond East and West: Sacred Landscapes Duklja and Raška
Place Permanent Settlement
Administrative unit Zadar County , Croatia

Description

Zadar, in Italian Zara, in Latin Jadera, a picturesque historical town in South-Western Croatia, the former capital of Dalmatia. It is located on the end of a low-lying peninsula that is separated by the Zadar Channel from the islands of Ugljan and Pašman. The inlet between the peninsula and the mainland creates a natural deepwater harbour.
The old town on the peninsula dates from the 9th century BC, when it was a Liburnian settlement called Jadera. The town became Roman in the 1st century AD. Spared in the Avar and Slavic invasions of Dalmatia (c. 5th–6th century AD), it remained a thriving commercial, cultural, and artistic centre of Byzantine Dalmatia. Between 1045 and 1358 the town was intermittently at war with Venice, and in 1409 it was sold to Venice. It withstood a Turkish attack in 1571, and in the succeeding period Zadar became the most heavily fortified town on the Adriatic until its fortifications were partly demolished in the late 19th century.

Files

Representation of the Fortress of Zadar on the Church of S. Maria del Giglio in Venice (17th Century; © Mihailo St. Popović, 2009)
Representation of the Fortress of Zadar on the Church of S. Maria del Giglio in Venice (17th Century; © Mihailo St. Popović, 2009)