Gradina - Old Vidovgrad, Karlobag

Above Karlobag, on the slopes of Drvišica, lies the multi-layered archaeological site of Gradina, known as Old Vidovgrad. It is located in Lika-Senj County and is interesting because it shows that the area around today's town was inhabited for millennia before it.

The finds range from prehistory to the Middle Ages. According to the remains of material culture, habitation of Gradina was interrupted at the turn of the 13th to the 14th century, when a new port, trading and administrative centre, Scrissa, today's Karlobag, arose. From 1322 it was ruled by the Gusić family, that is, the Kurjaković family. Within the site stand the remains of the Church of St Vitus, single-nave and correctly oriented, with a narrower apse of irregular rectangular shape. Its dimensions are 12 x 7 m. It was built at the turn of the 13th to the 14th century, probably on the site of an older church, and is regarded as a unique example of early Gothic architecture in the Croatian Littoral.

The site is a protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-7390.

Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence.