Cultural and Historical Ensemble of Vodnjan

Vodnjan is a small town in southwestern Istria, and thanks to its preserved core and numerous churches it attracts visitors who want to get to know the interior of the Istrian peninsula. Around the town are traces of settlement from prehistory, and it is first mentioned at the beginning of the 12th century.

The oldest part is the Castello district around the Church of St James. In the centre from the 14th century there was a castle with a moat, demolished in 1808. In the 15th century the town spread eastwards, into the Forno Grande district, and in the 18th and 19th centuries further east and north, along the straight Trgovačka (Merchants') Street. The parish Church of St Blaise was built in the 18th century on the site of a pre-Romanesque church, and beside it is a 19th-century bell tower that dominates the view of the town. A large number of smaller chapels have been preserved on the former outskirts, and on the eastern side the Church of Santa Maria Traversa with the remains of a Franciscan monastery stands out.

The ensemble is a protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code RRI-0279-1971.

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