Pustograd Fortress, Tkon

The Pustograd fortress rises above Tkon on the island of Pašman, in Zadar County. It stands on a hill from which the southern entrance to the Pašman Channel was watched, and it is still interesting today as an example of how maritime routes were defended in late antiquity.

The fortress was built in the 6th century in the time of Emperor Justinian, as part of a network of fortresses, lookouts and other stations placed along the Adriatic sailing routes. The perimeter wall descends from the top of the hill down the sunny slope, follows the shape of the terrain and encloses an irregular, almost circular area measuring 85x75 m. The wall is preserved to a height of about a metre. Along its inner side, on the north and south, stand the remains of two towers. Inside the ramparts traces of a residential building and a water cistern can be seen. The fortress also served as a shelter, a refugium, for the inhabitants of the southeastern part of the island in times of danger.

Pustograd is a protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-3431.

Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: DGU (centre of the settlement).