Zadar is a city whose past goes back 3,000 years, when it was first mentioned as a settlement in written documents and historical artefacts. It became a fully urbanized centre during ancient Roman times and remained as such continuously for another two millennia.
Ever since those first records, Zadar has been one of the most important cities on the Eastern Adriatic coast, and an inevitable destination for adventurers, poets and writers. With every step you take, its streets, squares, the seafront, churches and monumental heritage unveil its antiquity and continuity, whereas modern installations show the vision of modernity and inspire new travellers.
Zadar was the military and administrative seat of the Adriatic part of the Republic of Venice and the centre of sea routes between Venice and Corfu. It is located on a peninsula fortified by city walls with a series of bastions and courts and an outer fort facing the mainland. The extraordinary importance of its fortifications was not diminished even by later changes.
In 2017, the defense system of Zadar and the Šibenik fortress of St. Nicholas were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as two of the six components of the transnational cultural heritage series, “Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th centuries.” This series also includes the fortified cities of Bergamo and Peschiera del Garda, as well as the fortress city of Palmanova in Italy and the fortified city of Kotor in Montenegro.
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