Heritage by Period / Middle Ages
Trogir, The Historical City
Info Sections
About the site
Country: Croatia, Trogir
Type: Fortress, Historic Town
Epoch: Modern Times, Middle Ages, Antiquity
Theme: Fortresses
World Heritage: Cultural Heritage
Trogir is a remarkable example of urban continuity. The orthogonal street plan of this island settlement dates back to the Hellenistic period and it was embellished by successive rulers with many fine public and domestic buildings and fortifications. Its beautiful Romanesque churches are complemented by the outstanding Renaissance and Baroque buildings from the Venetian period.
UNESCO
Trogir is an ancient town – indeed, it is so old that its foundations – Illyrian, Hellenistic Roman and medieval – seem to grow from the see. The arheological finds date back to 2000 BC. Ancient Tragyron, Tragurion, or Tragurium, has a continuity of 4000 years and is thus one of the oldest towns in the Mediterranean. The defence of Trogir evolved through the millennia, starting with the Illyrian castelier and the Roman castrum to the territorial defence system in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The most interesting period of its development was the Middle Ages, when the system of private family houses was integrated into a municipal plan. In the second half of the 13th and throught the 14th centuries, the oval ring of the Romanesque town, a reflex of the original geological forms of the small low – lying island on which it is situated, was supplemented by Borgo-Varos (Pasike) with a fortification at the south – west corner of a landfill. In the mid-fifteenth century the construction of the large Kamerlengo Castello (after camerlengo – the ducal treasurer) was completed on the south – west corner, separated (until the 1880s) from town by a moat and a wooden drawbridge. The creation of the main town square, on the site of the original Roman forum, began in cca 1300 with the construction of the Loggia, which echoes the just completed forecourt of the cathedral opposite.
Expert network
Read more about Trogir, The Historical City at the Unesco World Heritage List.
