About Zadar

Zadar, a city with more than 3000 years of history, built in the middle of the Croatian coast, surrounded by islands and protected harbour was destroyed in wars and earthquakes, but every time rebuilted even more beatifull and richer. The first inhabitants, a tribe in the 4th century b.c. Liburna recorded the first written mention about village life Jadera. The form of the city name Jader is mentioned, and trough history it's changed to Idassa (Greek sources), Jadera (Roman sources), Diadora, Zara to the present name Zadar. After the 59th the BC Zadar became Roman municipality and 48th the BC colony of Roman citizens. Under the rule of the Roman, city Zadar takes on the character of a proper network of streets, with the main square-the forum. The city today is a preserved monument of different historical times and cultures, which have set boundaries and visible contours of it's urban layout.

Sea Organs

Sea Organ is situated near the new cruiser port as a part of Zadar's Riva, and can be observed as a differently shaped part of the coast which consists of several stairs that descend into the sea. The stairs extend for about 70 meters along the coast, under them, at the lowest sea-tide level, 35 pipes of different lenght, diameter and tilts were built in vertically to the coast and they raise aslant until the paved part of the shore and end in a canal (a service corridor). On the pipes there are LABIUMS (whistles), which play 7 chords of 5 tones. Above the canal there are perforated stone stairs through which the sound comes out, the air pushed by the sea. This site is a blend of human ideas and skills and the energy of the sea, waves, tide and flood, a place for relaxation, contemplation and conversation while listening to an endless concert of mystic harmonies of the "Orchestra of Nature".

The Greeting to the Sun

After the world-known Sea Organs, Zadar has become wealthier with one more urban installation. On the Istrian coast in the very top of Zadar peninsula, next to the famous Sea Organs shines Greeting to the Sun. On Istarska obala, at the very end of the Zadar peninsula, next to the famous Sea Organs, shines the Greeting to the Sun made by the same architect Nikola Bašić. the names of the saints after which present and previous churches on the peninsula have been named are carved in the ring surrounding the Greeting to the Sun. They are sanctae Anastasiae, sancti Donati, Simeonis Ivsti, Chrysogoni and Zoili, and also Hieronymi, Lucae, Platonis, Eliae... Next to their names and the date of their feast day are the declination and the altitude of the sun, the length of the sunlight on that day and in that place on the waterfront. Thus the connection is emphasized between Zadar and theSaint Grisogonus Calender, who contributed greatly in marking time and astronomic navigation at its very beginnings.
The Greeting to the Sun installation, as a model of the solar system with its appertaining planets, is connected to the Sea Organs whose sound is transposed into a show of light that starts performing on the Zadar waterfront after sunset.

Foša

In the Zadar nucleus traces of the past are everywhere: walls, towers, imposing gates... The most striking among the towers is Kapetanova kula (Captain's Tower), while among the gates, Kopnena vrata (Land Gate) – a late Renaissance masterpiece. From the building which housed the governor's office and the former armoury (Palace of the Great Captain) leads the path to the south-east, to the small picturesque port of Fosa next to the Land Gate.

Kalelarga

Kalelarga or Wide Street is the main and most famous street of Zadar, some people say it is even older than the city itself, spreading in the direction west - east from People's Square to the Forum. In the Second World War almost all the buildings in the street were destroyed, as such it was renovated in the Modern style, retaining only its main direction.

The Gold and Silver of Zadar

Within the structure to the church of St. Mary, or more specfically her monastery, whose property was Heavily damaged during the Second World War a Representative exhibition was formed in 1972 - the Permanent Exhibition of Religious Art, one of the most worth-while exhibitions in Croatia, popularly called "The Gold and Silver of Zadar".
The exhibition "Gold and Silver of Zadar", initiated in 1951 by the Croatian writer Miroslav Krleza, was transformed in 1976 into a permanent display of the Permanent Exhibition of Ecclesiastic Art in the Benedictine Convent of St. Mary in Zadar, one of the first capital buildings of Croatian culture. On the occasion of the exhibition , Krleza wrote one of his best essays, in which he glorified the treasures of Zadar. The gold and silver of Zadar shine on a surface area of about 1200 m2 in 8 modernly equipped halls, including the reconstructed interior of the old Croatian Church of St. Nediljica from the 11th century. Also included are manuscripts, sculptures, embroideries, tapestry, reliefs, etc., as evidence of the rich past of Zadar from the 8th to 18th centuries, as a town which was an important cultural center, particularly in the Middle Ages.