Get in
The adjacent bus and train stations are about 15 minutes walk from city centre. There are frequent buses and taxis too.
By bus
Frequent buses run to and from Zagreb (3h 30 min), Rijeka (change for Trieste in Italy), Pula, Sibenik, Split and on to Dubrovnik. Information: +385-23-211555. Reservations by phone are possible with some operators, e.g. Contus: +385-23-314477. Touring connects Zadar with several German cities.
About half the buses for Zagreb pass through the stunning Plitvice National Park.
By train
A few slow trains a day run to Knin and connect into trains for Zagreb and Split. Virtually nobody uses this train to get to these cities.
By boat
Large Jadrolinja http://www.jandrolinija.hr ferries run every few days up and down the coast between Dubrovnik and Rijeka, stopping off at ports (including Zadar) and islands on the way. They also run almost daily ferries in summer to and from Ancona in Italy.
Local Boats - Zadar is also a hub for local boats and hydrofoils in Northern Dalmatia. Services run to and from Olib, Mali Losinj, Ugljan etc.
By plane
There is an evening flight from Zagreb. During the summer seasons there are also various tourist flights from several European cities. Cheap flights exist but may be hard to find. AdriaJet sells tickets on charter flights: tel. +385 48 240600. Globespan has added a low cost flight from London Stansted to Zadar.
Get around
The centre is easy enough to get around on foot. To reach the bus & train stations or Youth Hostel you will probably need to catch one of the frequent local buses.
See
Do
Sit for hours in one of the cafes and enjoy the city, the sun, and the people. There's very few Internet Cafes. For more information visit the tourist office at
Buy
If you are looking for a good printed tourist guide try the Petar Zoranic bookstore, Knezova Subica Bribirskih 10
Eat
Drink
Sleep
Get out
Zadar (Italian: Zara), is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea, with a population of 72,718 (2006). 93% of its citizens are ethnic Croats (2001 census).
It is the centre of modern Croatia's Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar is located opposite the islands of Ugljan and Pašman, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait.
The promontory on which the old city stands used to be separated from the mainland by a deep moat which has since become a landfill. The harbor, to the north-east of the town, is safe and spacious.
Zadar is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop.
History
Pre Antiquity
All Zadar district is found to be populated by people since the ancient times. Discoveries of that earlier culture originated in the Late Stone Age, while numerous settlements were dated as early as in Neolithic. Before Illyrians, ancient Meditteranean people were settled in that area and the name of the settlement Iader, Iadra or Iadera (also spelled Jader, Jadra or Jadera) came from their Pre-Indo-European language, could have been connected with some hydrographical term. This name was lately used by other civilisations.
Antiquity
In the 9th century BC Zadar was settled by the Liburnians, a tribe of Illyrians, who were known as great sailors and merchants and by the 7th Century BC it had become an important centre for their trading activities with the Greeks and the Romans. Some estimates of Iader population accord to 2.000 habitants – Iadasines. The people of Jader (the Jadasinei) were first mentioned in a Greek inscription (384. BC) as the leading enemies of the Greek colonists in the Adriatic, in the ages of Greek colonization (6th – 4th century BC). In the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Romans began to gradually invade the outlying lands and after 59 BC it became a Roman municipium, and in 48 BC a Roman colony. In the early days of the Romans ruling Iadera was a flourishing Roman colony which lasted for several hundred years until waves of marauding tribes battered the region. In the 4th century it had probably 20. – 25.000 citizens, mixed Romans and indigenous Liburnians.
Middle Age
Upon the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the destruction of Salona in the early 7th century, Zara became the capital of the Byzantine theme (administrative unit) of Dalmatia, as well as the governor's headquarters. It maintained a large municipal autonomy throughout the Middle Ages.
In the early 9th century it came under the Franks, while it was given back to Byzantium in 812, under the Peace Treaty of Aachen. In 925, King Tomislav (before, he was the Duke of Croatian Dalmatia) united Dalmatia and Pannonia to expand the Croatian kingdom. In the 10th, and especially in the 11th century, although it survived the migration of Slavs, in this time, for about 50 years, it was ruled by the Kingdom of Croatia.
In 998, the city sought Venetian protection; for the next four centuries it was under Venetian or Hungarian rule, changing hands repeatedly.
From 1105, when it recognized the rule of the first Hungarian king Coloman, Zara began to be involved in frequent wars with Venice.
Zara was a possession of the Republic of Venice between 1111 and 1154 and between 1160 and 1183.
In 1183 it rebelled, asking protection to the Pope and to Hungary, but it was come again under Venetian controlo in 1202, when it was sieged and conquered by the Crusaders , to pay the impressive debt they contracted with Venetians for the transport to Egypt, during the Fourth Crusade.
After a number of insurrections (1242-1243, 1320s, 1345-1346), Zara came under the rule of the Hungarian king Louis I (under the Peace Treaty of Zara in 1358). After the death of Louis, Zara recognized the rule of king Sigismund, and after him, that of Ladislas of Naples, who in 1409 sold Zara "his rights" on Dalmatia to Venice for 100,000 ducats.
Republic of Venice (1409-1797)
In the early 16th century the Ottoman Turks conquered its hinterland, the town became an important stronghold protecting Venetian trade in the Adriatic, as well as the administrative centre of the Venetian possessions in Dalmatia and a cultural centre.
From 1726-1733 a part of its territory was settled by Catholic Albanian refugees. That Albanian settlement is called "Arbanasi".
Napoleonic era
After the fall of Venice (1797) with the Treaty of Campo Formio, Zara come under Austrian rule. In 1806 it was annexed to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, and in 1809 to the French ruled Illyrian Provinces. In 1813 all Dalmatia was reconquered and annexed by the Austrian Empire.
During all this time, it remained the capital of Dalmatia.
During the Napoleonic era, the first Dalmatian newspaper (Il Regio Dalmata - Kraglski Dalmatin), was published in Zara (1806-1810). It was published in Italian and in the local slavic dialect (the Croatian language was standardized shortly later). It was the first time that a south slavic language was used for a newspaper, so that the "Kraglski Dalmatin" is today remembered as the first Croatian newspaper.
Austrian Empire (1815-1918): the age of nationalism
After 1815 the Kingdom of Dalmatia (including Ragusa) was annexed to the Austrian Empire. The peaceful coexistence between the two historical components of Dalmatia (Italian and Slavic), resisted for the first decades of the Austrian rules.
Thus, after the 1848, both the Italian and Slavic nationalism raised
.
Having a large Italian maiority, the city was one of the main centers of the Italian cultural and national revival in Dalmatia.
Its population in 1910 was 36.595 in the commune (including an Austrian garrison) and 14.056 in the town (mostly Italian, with 3.532 people of "Serbocroatian language").
Italy
In the november 1918 Zara was occupied by the Italian Army, like the most of the coastal Dalmatia, under the Treaty of London. Beeing city with a large Italian majoriti, it was annexed to Italy in 1920, under the Treaty of Rapallo (1920.)
The Italian Commune was quite different from the Austrian one; it included Zara and the localities of Borgo Erizzo (Arbanazi), Cerno (Cino), Boccagnazzo (Bokanjac), Puntamica (Puntamika) and the island Lagosta (Lastovo).
According to the (pre-fascist) census of 1921, this area included 18.623 people (Serbocroatians 2.538).
After the advent of the fascism many Croats left the city because of the policies of Italian government. It has been extimated that, during the time of Italian rule, a total 1600-1800 Yugoslavians left the area annexed by Italy.
Their place were mainly taken by ethnic Italians, resettled from within Yugoslavian Dalmatia.
World War II
When the Axis powers attacked Yugoslavia in 1941, Italy, annexed part of Dalmatia, according the treaty of Rome. The city ceased to be an enclave and it became the center of a new Italian "provincia".
Nazi Germany occupied the city in 1943. Zara was bombed by the allied air forces, with heavy civilian casualties. The greater part of the city was destroyed many civilians escaped to Italy to avoid the bombs.
In 1944 Tito's partisans entered in the town. In the following years nearly all the population left the city, and their place were mainly taken by Croats, resettled from inland.
It became a part of Yugoslavia
.
Recent history
Since World War II the city has developed as a strong economic and tourist center.
During the Croatian War of Independence, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) (under Serbian president Slobodan Milošević's control) along with Serb paramilitaries converged on the city and subjected it to artillery bombardment. Along with other Croatian towns in the area, Zadar was shelled for years, damaging buildings and homes as well as UNESCO protected buildings. Attacks in nearby cities and villages occurred, the most brutal being the Škabrnja massacre, where 86 people were murdered. Connections with the capital Zagreb were severed for over a year, the only link between the north and south of the country was via the island of Pag. The siege of the city lasted from 1991 until January of 1993 when Zadar and the surrounding area came under the control of Croatian forces in Operation Maslenica. Attacks on the city continued until the end of the war in 1995.
Main sights
Architecture
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 was supplying the town with water has been partly preserved. Inside the ancient town, a medieval town had developed, when a series of churches and monasteries had been built.
During the Middle Ages, Zadar had fully gained its urban aspect, which has been maintained until today. In the 16th century, Venice fortified the town with a new system of defensive walls on the side facing land. In the first half of the 16th century, architectural building in the Renaissance style was continued. Defence trenches were built also (Foša), which were completely buried during the Italian occupation. In 1873 under Austrian rule the ramparts of Zadar were converted from fortifications into elevated promenades commanding extensive views to seaward and to landward, wall lines thus being 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 Sanmichele. In the bombardments during the Second World War, entire blocks were destroyed, but some of the structures were preserved.
Most important landmarks:
The chief interest of Zadar lies in its churches.
Other architectual acivments:
Culture
The first university of Zadar is mentioned in 1396 and it was a part of the Dominican monastery. It closed in 1807.
Zadar was, along with Dubrovnik, one of the centres of development of Croatian literature.
The 15th and the 16th centuries were marked by important activities of Croatian writers writing in the national language: Jerolim Vidolić, Petar Zoranić (who wrote first Croatian novel, Mountains), Brne Krnarutić, Juraj Barakovic, Šime Budinić.
During the 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).
Today Zadar's cultural institutions include:
Economy
Major industries include tourism, traffic, seaborne trade, agriculture, fishing and fish farming activities, metal manufacturing and mechanical engineering industry, chemicals and non-metal industry and banking. The headquarters of the following companies are located in Zadar:
The farmland just northeast of Zadar, Ravni Kotari, is a well known source of marasca cherries. Distilleries in Zadar have produced Maraschino since the 16th century.
Science
In 1998, Zadar hosted the Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI).
Sports
The local basketball club is KK Zadar, and the football club NK Zadar. The bowling club Kuglački klub Zadar is also very successful.
Twinning
Zadar maintains cultural, economic and educational ties with:
From the foundation to 1850
1800 - 1950
1950 - present days
See also
Sources
History about world
External links
Gallery
Image:Zadar_Donat_Forum.jpg|St. Donat's Church and Roman Forum
Image:Zadar_Forum.jpg|Roman Forum in Zadar
Image:Zadar_Sveta_Stosija.jpg|St. Anastasia Cathedral/sv. Stošija in Zadar
Image:Zadar_SvMarija.jpg|St. Mary's Church
Image:Zadar_SvSimun.jpg|St. Simeon's Church
Image:Zadar_SvSimun_oltar.jpg|St. Simeon/sv. Šimun
Image:Zadar_PortaMarina.jpg|Morska vrata/Porta marina
Image:Zadar_Sveuciliste.jpg|University of Zadar (1396)
