It is not just a case if there are so many beautiful little harbours and towns all around the Dalmatian coast and islands. Most of them are there from centuries, indestructible, thanks to the stone building culture. From the shepherd small huts, in the country where olives, fig trees and vineyards grow on a land liberated from stones, stacked in little walls, for years and centuries, by patient women hands, to the imposing roman's emperor Diocletian Palace, in Split, the former "Spalato".
Sutivan Village, Brac Island. Old Street
Typical Dry Stone Walls In Croatian Islands
The old town was built inside the palace's walls to be protected from barbaric invasions after the fall of the Roman Empire. And the result of that, today, is an amazing and unique mélange of different styles that cohabit perfectly well in the historical center of Split: roman columns, gothic windows, baroque balconies...And, in the back, small venetian medieval streets, very similar to the "salizada" around San Marco Place in Venice.
In fact, after the Roman Empire, a lot of invasions, the medieval Kingdom of Croatia, a struggle for Dalmatia that lasted centuries between Venice and the Kingdom of Hungary, the Dalmatian coast and the islands passed (until 1797) under the cultural influence and the power of the Republic of Venice.
In fact, after the Roman Empire, a lot of invasions, the medieval Kingdom of Croatia, a struggle for Dalmatia that lasted centuries between Venice and the Kingdom of Hungary, the Dalmatian coast and the islands passed (until 1797) under the cultural influence and the power of the Republic of Venice.
Diocletian Palace, Split Center. Croatia
"La Serenissima" used the wood and the stone of Istria (north of Dalmatia) and Dalmatia to construct some of her splendid palaces along the Canal Grande. And, at the same time, in Dalmatia, little towns as Zadar (Zara), Trogir (Trau), Sibenik (Sebenico), Split (Spalato), Hvar (Lesina), Korcula (Kurzola) and even Dubrovnik (Ragusa) that was a rich and independent- paying for that, Venetians and Turks- little Republic, began to look like, in a much smaller edition, the magnificent Venice. With a very important advantage: the stone.
Dubrovnik Stradun, Croatia
It is said that even the White House, in Washington, was built of this beautiful white and solar materiel that inspired so many extraordinary sculptors as Ivan Mestrovic (see the Mestrovic Gallery in Split) that still has heirs in Croatia.
On the island of Brac where are the most important quarries of the precious stone, you can visit, in Pucisca, the Stone cutter School. This institution, created at the beginning of the 20th century, keeps alive an old craft tradition that assures, as the poet says, that "a thing of beauty is a joy for ever".
On the island of Brac where are the most important quarries of the precious stone, you can visit, in Pucisca, the Stone cutter School. This institution, created at the beginning of the 20th century, keeps alive an old craft tradition that assures, as the poet says, that "a thing of beauty is a joy for ever".
Stone Cutter School In Pucisca, Brac Island, Croatia
Blaca Monastery, Brac Island, Croatia. Stone Houses Built In The Stone
