Vis (Italian: Lissa and ancient Greek Ίσσα, Issa) is a protruding Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It is 45 km away from the mainland. The area of the island is 89.72 km2, a commercial line from Split runs to the island two to four times a day, and in summer it has a connection with Ancona in Italy. The total length of the coast of Vis is 84.9 km.
remains of the ancient city of Issa (baths, necropolis, theater,
parts of the port)
rich sacred heritage (the parish church of Our
Lady of Spilica, the churches of St. Ciprijan and St. Duha, the
Franciscan monastery of St. Jerolim on the Prirovo peninsula, the shrine
of the Virgin Mary in Podselje - Veli Selo)
summer houses of nobles
from Hvar and Vis (Hektorović, Jakša, Gariboldi, Dojmi Delupis)
fortifications from various historical periods (Venice, England,
Austria-Hungary)
city architecture from the 19th and early 20th
centuries (neoclassicism and Art Nouveau; Croatian Home, Tramontana
House, elementary school)
The Church of Our Lady of Spilica was
named after the smaller towns in Pripeć where it was built. Construction
began on the land donated to the builders by Frano de Pelegrinis at the
very beginning of the 16th century. According to archival documentation,
it can be seen that in 1521 it was not yet completed and that the
builders increased its dimensions during construction. Its appearance is
a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Its central and oldest
part was built in the first half of the 16th century and bears the
characteristics of the transitional Gothic-Renaissance style. The main
door has grooved jambs on which there are two semi-capitals supporting
the lintel. Above the door is a semicircular, simply profiled lunette
decorated with teeth. The round window on the facade is also
Renaissance, while the slender nave with three bells is the tallest in
Dalmatia. The church naves are entered through two baroque doors above
which are double-winged gables, and above them are round windows. The
interior of the church is divided into three naves by wide semicircular
arches on masonry columns. This achieved the unity of the space
illuminated by long narrow windows of Romanesque-Gothic appearance, some
of which were probably transferred from the old walls from the 16th
century. The original appearance of the altar in the late Renaissance
style was removed at the beginning of the 19th century. From the altar
polyptych created by the famous Venetian painter Girolamo da Santacroce,
the central part has been preserved, which depicts the Virgin and Child
on the throne, St. John the Baptist, Saint Peter, and above all is God
the Father.
The late-baroque Church of St. Ciprijan and Justina
was built in 1742 in the eastern part of Vis, in the area of Kut. In
this place there was a church built at the beginning of the 15th
century, the remains of which can be seen in the rear part of the
present church with the bricked-up opening of the Gothic window. The
flat facade of the church shows late Baroque decorations interwoven with
some Gothic motifs. Round and quatrefoil windows intertwine with baroque
volutes on the triangular gable. The builders with seven small windows
and a niche inside which there is a statue of the martyr St. Cipriana
decorated the upper part of the facade, which ends with a border made of
lying and strung volutes. In the lower part next to the portal, there
are shallow pilasters above which are roses. In the interior of the
church there is a spacious apse and two side chapels that give the floor
plan of the church a cruciform shape, but this is hardly noticeable due
to the shallowness of the chapels. The ceiling of the church is wooden
and richly coffered with decorations of rhombuses with stylized flowers,
and in the center is inserted a canvas with a depiction of the Creator.
A bell tower was built next to the church when the church was also
built. Like the front of the church, it is decorated with horizontal
bands, quatrefoil openings, relief roses, angel heads, elliptical
windows and end vases. There are loopholes facing the harbor, which
means that the builders wanted to use the dominant position for
defensive purposes.
The Church of St. George was built in the
11th century on a small peninsula at the entrance to the deep Bay of
Vis. After her, in the Middle Ages the Bay of Vis was called the port of
St. Jurja, an islet at the entrance to the bay of Škojem sv. Jurje, and
on the east side of the church is Jurjevo brdo. Saint Juraj is the
protector of the town of Vis. Over time, the church underwent various
modifications, so now the appearance of its facade, where the door has
been widened and two smaller windows have been added, shows more the
stylistic features of the 16th century than the original one. Inside the
church, the walls are broken up with beds, while two Byzantine amphorae
are embedded in the church's vault. The apse of the church is
semicircular and contains an altar that replaced the old one in the 17th
century. During the 15th century, hermits lived in it, whose graves were
found around the church.
Perasta Tower, a castle, was built by
Vicko from Perast in Boka Kotor in 1617. He requested construction
permission from the general providor, and received it on December 16,
1616. There is not much information about the builder Vick from Perast.
The earliest document that mentions him is from 1587, in which his
family is also mentioned, and he is always addressed as sir (sir,
dominus). He lived in the village of Luka in Vis in his own house next
to the tower, and died in 1622. He built the tower on his own land to
protect himself and other residents of Vis from possible Turkish attacks
on Vis. The walls of the tower are divided by horizontal cornices, and
inside the wall surfaces there are openings for cannons and loopholes.
At the corners of the tower there are quadrangular guardhouses standing
on consoles, and their roofs are decorated with acroteria. The tower was
entered through the door on the first floor, which was connected to
Perasti's house by a wooden bridge. As it was the only door, all the
equipment for the tower was brought in via the wooden bridge through it.
The tower was armed with smaller bronze cannons, which are mentioned in
the documents in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was forbidden to build
walls, houses and other objects around the tower that would interfere
with the defensive action of the cannons that were inside it.
The
Gariboldi Palace was built in 1552 as a Renaissance farmhouse. At the
beginning of the 16th century, Frane Gariboldi moved from Milan to Hvar,
became a citizen of Hvar, acquired a house and a shop in a busy part of
Hvar and a burial place in the Franciscan church. He had his own estates
on Vis, so he soon had a palace built on the high external front wall
above the portal, where he placed an inscription stating that he was a
citizen of Hvar of Milanese origin. LAVS DEO FRANCISCVS GARIBOLDVS
MEDIOLANENSIS NVNC CIVIS LESINAE PRO SE IPSO AC FILIIS ET HEREDIBVS SVIV
HOC OPVS CONSTRVXIT MDLII. Behind the fence wall is a paved courtyard
that was later partitioned and shortened, and there is also a well in
it. The front of the house is divided by profiled windows and bordered
by a stone cornice of the roof decorated with stone acroteria in the
shape of a sphere. There is a tavern on the ground floor, and stone
stairs lead from the ground floor to the central door to the first
floor, above which there is a Latin inscription. GLORIA LAVS ET HONOR
TIBI SIT CHRISTE REDMEPTOR. Above the door is a relief coat of arms in
the field of which there are a fort and four stars, and on both sides
are the initials of Fran's name, F.G.
The palace on Vis was built
by the famous Croatian writer, playwright and poet Marin Gazarović,
author of Murat Gusar, Ljubica and other works. There he rested and
supervised his estates as many Dalmatian nobles did on their coastal
estates. The summer house with a yard was completed before the last
decade of the 16th century, it is surrounded by a high wall, and on the
Renaissance portal are Gazarović's verses in the Croatian language. PRIN
NER CHIES CA PROCIN LEAVE HIMBE OUT CA OBECHIASC VCIN AC HOCH BIT
VIROVAN VIROM XIVE OV VICH DRAGYE VIRAN SLVGA YER CA TVRDI COVICH TVRDI
FOR EVIL TREES. Gazarović's palace was built in the belated Renaissance
style. On the ground floor there is a tavern illuminated by small square
windows, and on the outside there used to be stairs that leaned against
the facade and climbed up to the front door of the first floor, where
the writer's apartment was located. The interior of the apartment was
completely changed by subsequent constructions, and parts of the stone
Renaissance sink that many Dalmatian houses had in the period from the
15th to the 18th century can be seen from the original form. In the
middle of the facade is the coat of arms of Gazarović surrounded by
sirens, and at the top is a dragon with spread wings. carved by the
writer with his own hand.
The Renaissance-baroque one-story house
of the Prdvarić family is located in the Kut uz more area of Vis, and
was built in the late 16th century. On the north facade is a long
balcony with a stone railing of unusually stylized decorations that have
the appearance of upright and inverted stone vases. The balcony extends
along the entire width of the northern facade. On this facade, above the
balcony, there is a coat of arms in a Renaissance-Baroque frame from the
16th-18th centuries, which is also located above the house door. There
was also a third coat of arms which has now been removed from the house.
In the central field of the coat of arms, divided by a belt that breaks
at right angles, there are three stars, and on the lower side of the
belt, a crescent moon. At the top of the coat of arms is an angel's
head. On the gable of the southern wall of the palace there are carved
flowers and a small figure of a naked woman with a ribbon, similar to
the allegory of Happiness. On the ground floor of the palace there was a
tavern, and on the first floor there was a central hall between the side
rooms, which are entered through the doors of profiled stone frames. In
the hall covered with a wooden ceiling resting on stone consoles, there
is a profiled well crown and a large wall basin with two stone shelves
on side consoles decorated with lilies and at the bottom with a
masquerone in relief, a typical decoration for Dalmatian wall basins
from the 16th to 18th century
Vis Fortress was built by the
British when Habsburg power was handed over to the French as a result of
the peace treaty imposed by Napoleon. Fearing that Napoleon would turn
the Adriatic into a French lake with further penetration, whose military
power was further increased by the ships of the Venetian fleet captured
in the war, the Royal Navy, together with an infantry battalion and
artillery equipment, was sent to help prevent the realization of
Napoleon's ambitions. The British were fond of visiting the island of
Vis for its clear water and safe anchorages for years before they built
their defensive forts there. After the French attacked Vis and
significantly damaged the town in 1811, as well as the squares and ships
anchored in the port, it was decided that Vis needed additional defense
in order to prevent further attacks. The initial foundations of the
defense were established on the islet of Host, which consisted of two
18-pound cannons mounted on a stone pedestal. The construction of Fort
George began in 1812 by order of the British governor, Colonel
Robertson, who believed that the port needed better protection.
Conceived as an infantry and light artillery fort, it was built in such
a way that it was connected to the Martello, Bentick and Robertson
towers in the background as well as to Fort Wellington located in the
bay opposite Fort George. Like the forts on the islet of Host, the
Martello towers could accommodate large cannons that easily prevented
opposing ships from approaching the bay. Fort George as well as
defensive towers Martello, Bentick and Robertson were built under the
supervision of Captain Henryson, where the help of the local island
population was used as labor during the construction and which remained
under the authority of the army, while the armed unit on the islet of
Host remained under the authority of the British Royal Navy. The
construction of all defensive towers and forts was completed in 1813,
and two years later they were all handed over to the Habsburg Monarchy,
which slowly began to take over positions on the Adriatic as a result of
the weakening of Napoleon's influence in the region.
The town of Vis is located in a large and naturally protected bay
(Svetog Jurja bay) on the north-eastern side of the island of Vis,
facing Hvar and the Dalmatian mainland. The port of Vis is located in
the most indented southwestern part of the bay, which is protected by
the islet of Host and the peninsula of Prirovo from the influence of the
open sea. Inside the bay there are also smaller anchorages in the areas
of Kut and Stonac.
A belt of high hills (250-300 m) separates the
town from the fertile fields in the interior of the island (Dračevo and
Velo Polje), which were the basis of the economic development of the
place (viticulture). The area of the town of Vis also includes the
indented southern and southeastern coast of the island of Vis with
numerous bays (Milna, Rukavac, Srebrna, Stiniva, Stončica, Ruda, etc.)
and the islets of Budihovac and Ravnik, which have great tourist
potential.
The climate on the island is Mediterranean with hot summers. Since the island is quite far from other islands and the mainland, that is, it is quite lonely on the high seas, Vis is exposed to stronger winds than the neighboring Adriatic islands. The average is over 2600 hours of sunshine a year. Temperatures are above 24 ° C in summer and above 6 ° C in winter. Less than 800 mm of precipitation falls annually.
The island was inhabited in prehistoric times.
It was a place of ancient Greek settlement, and the ancient
settlement of Issa dates from that time. Later it passed under
ancient Roman rule.
In the early Middle Ages it was located
in the old Croatian state. Afterwards, he often changed rulers, that
is, he had Venetians as rulers. Then Vis was attacked by the
Catalans in the service of the King of Naples, who ravaged the
island. Due to the need for defense, they built the fortified
settlements of Kut and Luka, which gave rise to modern Vis. In
Napoleonic times, the rulers were the French and even the English
(then cricket was played on the island, for the first time in
Croatia). After the fall of Napoleon and the Venetian Republic, Vis
came under Habsburg rule.
With the further administrative
reorganization of the monarchy, Vis became part of the imperial
province of Dalmatia, which after the Austro-Hungarian division of
the monarchy fell under the Austrian part. In the vicinity of the
island of Vis, the Battle of Vis took place in 1866, which greatly
influenced the further development of events on the eastern Adriatic
coast. With the victory of the Austro-Hungarian navy, the Italian
encroachments on Vis and the whole of Dalmatia were temporarily
stopped.
Vis in the 20th century
With the disintegration
of Austro-Hungary, Vis fell under Italian occupation (1918-1921),
and then became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Although the Treaty of London in 1915 promised the island to Italy,
its army still had to withdraw from Vis. There is a story that at
the last moment at the peace conference in Paris, Italy was given
Lastovo to leave Vis, which was of symbolic importance to it due to
the defeat of 1866. It is believed that the main role was played by
Ante Trumbić, who was also a representative of the island of Vis.
The era of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, or later
the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was the period of the first crisis of the
island, caused by the loss of a large market. There was also a
conflict over the division of colonial land, which was used by the
then Greater Serbia circles from Belgrade. They promised land to the
Visans who converted to the Orthodox faith, which a large group of
farmers did. According to the data of the Hvar diocese, from
1925-1933. 292 people converted to Orthodoxy, only in Vis, of which
58 returned to Catholicism over time, and by the end of World War II
only 3 remained in Orthodoxy. A large Orthodox church was built in
Vis in 1933 (damaged in 1944 when the Third Reich bombed Vis, and
demolished in 1963 in preparation for the 20th anniversary of Tito's
arrival on Vis) and the conversion to Orthodoxy continued. This
caused severe conflicts, including physical ones, among the locals,
which were sharply divided into two irreconcilable sides. With the
founding of the Banovina of Croatia, the pro-Croatian current
prevailed on the island, and the Orthodox movement disintegrated,
only to disappear completely during the war.
Vis in the
Second World War and the postwar period
After the outbreak of
World War II, the island of Vis was again occupied by Italy in 1941,
which immediately began to pursue a policy of general
Italianization, especially in the town of Vis itself, where it had
some supporters. They especially targeted members of the HSS, using
the method of expelling more prominent Visans in the NDH. With the
rise of partisan actions, methods of governing became increasingly
cruel, including the shooting of hostages in Vis and Komiža and the
burning of houses in Vis villages. After the capitulation of Italy
in September 1943, the Partisans took power on the island. Vis is
the only part of the former Yugoslavia that was never occupied by
the German army. At that time, the Allied military airport was
located on it (today under the vineyards). Tito took refuge on Vis
in June 1944 after the German landing on Drvar. Until the capture of
Belgrade in October 1944, the island functioned as a center of
partisan authorities and allied military missions. All the island's
population that was not able to fight was evacuated by the British
to the El Shatt camp in Sinai, where many Visans died due to poor
living conditions. The return from Egypt was made during 1946.
In socialist Yugoslavia, Vis was an island closed to foreigners
due to its strategic position (the ban on the arrival of foreigners
was lifted only in 1989) and the whole was turned into a large
military fortress. Covering an area of only 90 km2, there were
more than 30 military facilities, including an underground military
hospital and a tunnel to shelter warships. The consequence of half a
century of isolation was economic backwardness and the impossibility
of tourism development, and the associated large emigration of the
population. The Yugoslav army left the island only on May 30, 1992,
4 and a half months after Croatia's international recognition.
Until the middle of the 20th century, the main source of income for the people of Višan was their vineyards, i.e. wine production. Today, the population works mainly in tourism and service industries. The town is also home to the only palm tree nursery on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. Višani have several specialties of their own, such as Viška cviti, hib, Viška pogača.
Vis is very likely the oldest urban settlement in Croatia (the Stari
Grad on neighboring Hvar is also fighting for that title), which has
existed for 2,400 years.
For a long time, the city consisted of two
separate parts - Luka and Kut, so the parish church, and later the
school, were built between them in order to better connect them.
Vis
became the center of the island only in the 15th century. century, after
the army of the Kingdom of Naples destroyed the former center of Velo
Selo (today's village of Podselje) in 1483.
From 1807 to 1815, Vis
was under the administration of the English, who built a system of
fortifications around the town and named them after their rulers and
military leaders (Bentinck, George III and Wellington).
The monument
to the famous Battle of Vis from 1866, in which the Habsburg navy
defeated the Italian navy, was dismantled and taken away by the Italian
army after the occupation of Vis in 1918. The monument (the so-called
"Lion of Vis") is today in Livorno in front of the naval academy there.
In World War II, the allied British army used the area of ancient Issa
as a parking lot for their vehicles and in the process destroyed a
significant part of the archaeological site.