From distinctive cats, beautiful walls, archeological sights, UNESCO attractions, divine cakes, the best guides on the Adriatic, beaches overlooking the old town, to the amazing Šibenik fortresses, Šibenik will definitely enchant you with its historical heritage and cause you to return. Šibenik’s fortresses, as an innovative and authentic attraction, dominate the tourist skyline of the city of Šibenik and represent the most beautiful attributes of the city.

While exploring them, we invite you to stay in one of the charming hotels in Šibenik where you will enjoy a fine morning breakfast and a perfect view of the city centre, or the azur sea.

Fortress of St. Michael – under angelic protection

If you are looking for the best concert location where you will enjoy great music and beautiful views at 70 metres above sea level, but also enjoy an interactive story about the history of the city, visit this fortress. Located on a steep rock and central to the development of medieval Šibenik, you cannot miss it. It owes its name to the church dedicated to Archangel Michael. Due to its eye-catching appearance and attractive position, today it is recognized as housing one of the most prestigious open-air stages in the region. The recently constructed stage at the fortress has over 1,000 seats overlooking it and it is now the home of numerous events, such as concerts, musicals, theatre festivals, plays and film screenings.

Did you know that the city walls that surrounded and protected Šibenik for centuries originated from the walls of the fortress, and that St. Michael, was the heavenly protector of the city from the earliest period? A 13th-century city seal depicts an archangel watching over the city walls. Šibenik was referred to as a castrum at that early time, a term that usually means “fortified city”. According to legend, the Hungarian-Croatian King Koloman attended a solemn mass led by Bishop Saint Ivan Trogirski around 1105, which he celebrated in the church of St. Michael.

In the middle of the 15th century, the Fortress of St. Michael was the dominant defensive point of the city with a permanent crew of 40 soldiers. Historical records tell is that the fortress was well equipped with weapons of that time. The soldiers had 27 small-caliber cannons, five rifles, about a hundred crossbows and 77 bows with over 3,000 arrows, as well as 68 spears, 42 sets of armour and 68 shields. Approximately during the same period, two cisterns are mentioned at the fortress, which have been preserved in its interior to this day. Here can be found a well-presented video performance to see for yourself how it used to be in its glory days.

And what does it look like today?

Today you will not hear the rattling of weapons or the firing of cannons from the fortress, no crossbows or bows will whistle from it, but you will hear good music and enjoy a cocktail overlooking the open sea. With a quick return to the future, this summer from June on the stage of this fortress you will be entertained by Cold Beer, Silente, Nipplepeople and many other performers. The past serving a very future purpose. This beauty is open all year round and the ticket costs 60 kuna.

Barone Fortress – the most beautiful sound experience

This guardian of the past was built in 1646. It is also located in an imposing position, ninety metres above sea level on the hill Vidakuša (old name). The need to build a fortress on the hills above Šibenik was emphasized by many city princes during the 16th and 17th centuries, but the Venetian government ignored their requests. The city was extremely vulnerable because the enemy entering the city from the current positions of fortress Barone and the fortress of St. Ivan could easily have demolished the city walls with artillery. When the Candian (aka Cretan) War broke out in 1645, the Ottoman army quickly advanced towards the Dalmatian battlefield and reached Šibenik in the summer of 1646. Seeing what was in store for them, the people of Šibenik organized themselves with their own forces in order to preserve the freedom of their city, and in an incredible 58 days from August to October, they raised the Barons.

When the Bosnian pasha Tekijeli arrived in front of the city with about 30,000 soldiers (shortly after the construction of the Barone), the people of Šibenik managed to defend and once again the success was certainly helped by the Barone Fortress – built in time and on time.

And how it is the Barone Fortress today?

Today, you can peek into the past through a magical journey through AR devices and audio guides. Enjoy the scene of battles, conquests, beginnings, and outside you can expect a spectacular view of the magical city center of Šibenik and the surrounding archipelago. The ticket costs 40 kuna but if you buy a joint ticket to visit the fortresses of Saint Michael and Barone, for 70 kuna you have a ticket for both fortresses.

tvrdava-barone/za-posjetitelje

St. John’s Fortress – soon in a new guise, a perfect blend of technology and the past.

This fortress was built at the same time as the Barone Fortress. It proudly rises above the old city center and its revitalization is the largest project ever awarded from European Union funds to the City of Šibenik.

The goals of the project are impressive. Within the area of the Fortress, a total area of 18,657 square meters, the ramparts will be renovated and innovative facilities, attractions and products will be introduced. It is also planned to house an educational campus equipped with smart interactive classrooms and presentation spaces. At the foot of the northern defensive rampart (“pliers”), visitors will be able to enjoy the gastro-visual concept. Thus, the renovated fortress will become an ideal platform for the promotion of local small and medium enterprises.

The scenography for the Game of Thrones was located here for a short time, because due to its star-shaped shape, the fortress is very photogenic and represents great visual opportunities. We are looking forward to another successful revitalization project and can’t wait to see what it will look like when St. John’s Fortress is ready for the first visitors.

tvrdava-svetog-ivana/projekt-revitalizacije

What haven’t we told you about Sibenik yet?

Šibenik is the first city on the Adriatic founded by Croats. It all started at the fortress of St. Mihovil on Christmas Day 1066, when Šibenik was founded by a gift from King Petar Krešimir IV, which is why it remained known as Krešimir’s town.

Šibenik is the first city in the world to receive public electric lighting in 1895.

The hydroelectric power plant on the Krka waterfalls also started operating in 1895 as the first in Europe, just two days after the first HEP station in the world on the Niagara Falls.

Šibenik is the pride of the citizens at the time when the Venetians ruled Dalmatia in the 15th century. It was the first town to mint its own money, known as the Šibenik bagatin.

And Juraj Dalmatinac Nikola Firentinac and Faust Vrančić are just some of the famous greats who left a mark at the foot of the walls of Krešimir’s town.

In the next story, we will tell you more about the Cathedral of St. James and another cultural attraction – the Interpretation Center of the Cathedral of St. Jacob’s ‘Civitas Sacra’. We will learn how the people of Šibenik built their cathedral in great communion, through sacrifice and renunciation, always putting in the foreground the good of the community in which they live and which thus became a “living Church”.

Until then, visit Šibenik – the perfect point of history and culture.

Šibenik Tourist Board

Author: Anita Žuvela

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It was constructed on the islet of Ljuljevac, where once was the Benedictine monastery of St Nicholas, after which the fortress was named. The construction of the fortress, based on Gian Girolamo San Micheli’s design, commenced in 1540 after the fall of Skradin under the Ottoman rule, when the Venetians were forced to strengthen the defence of Šibenik port, which was the most important port on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea.

Particular value of St Nicholas’ Fortress lies in its original form and some rare Renaissance architectural solutions, so in 2017 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the nomination The Defence System of the Republic of Venice between the 16th and 17th Centuries.

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The view over Šibenik reveals the unique harmony of the urban poetics of the town and its natural surroundings. The harbor, which is connected to the open sea by the St. Anthony Strait, has been an initiator of marittime affairs development, trading and the overall economic prosperity of the town for centuries. At the entrance into the Strait is the fortress of St. Nicholas, the most important renaissance fortress on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.

Together with the fortresses of St. Michael, St. John and Šubićevac surrounding the town, it is a symbol of the centuries old continuous resistence of Šibenik, as confirmed in the recent Croatian War of Independence.

Šibenik’s St. James’ Cathedral, built over more than a century, is testimony to the persistency, sacrifice and belief of generations of Šibenik inhabitants. It is unique for many things not only as far as Croatian architecture is concerned, but European architecture too: it is built entirely of stone. It is also unique in its use of brave structures of stone slabs and ribs, built without using any binding materials; it is also set apart by its trefoil front façade amongst  renaissance churches; finally, it is unique in the harmony of its architecture and the series of 71 realistic sculptural portraits around the apses.

Documents have preserved the building of the cathedral amongst its renaissance churches with contributions from the entire community with regard to its construction, but also from a number of individuals too, including a large number of domestic stone-dressers, builders and artisans. The most important among them was Juraj Matejev Dalmatinac, originally from Zadar and the person commissioned by the town in 1441 to take over the job of the proto-master of the Šibenik cathedral.

The cathedral and the nearby renaissance town hall, as well as the nearby churches, palaces, and the Prince’s Palace presently housing the County Museum, probably form Croatia’s heritage’s most beautiful square.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Šibenik was one of Croatia’s most important human and renaissance centres. Here writers such as Juraj Šižgorić, Antun and Faust Vrančić, Petar Divnić and Ivan Polikarp Severitan, composers Ivan Šibenčanin, Julije Skjavetić and Ivan Lukačić, historian Dinko Zavorović, painters Nikola Vladanov and Juraj Aulinović, graphic artists Martin Kolunić – Rota, Horacije Fortezza and Natal Bonifacij, as well as a number of sculptors and builders from the Juraj Matejev Dalmatian circle.

The scientist and visionary, lexicographer and writer, philosopher and theologist, Faust Vrančić, is the best known figure of the Croatian renaissance. The writer of the first Croatian dictionary, as well as the author of the famous book of projects and inventions, Machinae novae. Among his many ideas, the drawing of homo volans (the flying man), is outstanding, it is the first printed picture of a parachute flight in history. The 14th century St. Francis Church and Monastery of the first Croatian national Shrine, has been an important ecclesiastical and cultural centre for centuries.

There are over 150 incunabula and the same number of valuable manuscript codexes, including the famous Šibenik Prayer, the first Croatian poetry text written in Latin script can be found in the monastery’s collection. In the church, the original organ has been preserved created by the well-known 18th century Croatian organ inventor, Petar Nakić. The current vivid cultural life of Šibenik is shown by the traditional Šibenik International Children’s Festival.

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Šibenik Bagatin

Šibenik Hat

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The Šibenik Museum was founded in 1925 to celebreate the thousand year anniversary of the Kingdom of Croatia, and is located in the former Prince’s Palace, which is very close to the Cathedral.

 

 

The Prince’s Palace came about as a section of the coastal defense system for the city from the 13th – 14th Centuries. Presently preserved are two wings that were once a much bigger structure where the highest representative of the state’s authority in Šibenik (town prince) would reside.

 

The south wing extends along side the coastline, from a square to a rectangular tower. The square tower known as the Prince’s Palace Tower is the largest defence facility on shore and dates back to 14th century. Between it and the Bishop’s Palace the renaissance city door from 16th century have been preserved. Along the centre of the ground floor in the southern wing is a gothic passage with the city’s door on which the city’s coat of arms can be found with an image of its patron, St. Michael.

 

 

The west wing of the Prince’s Palace faces the sacristy and apse sections of the Cathedral. In the south end there are two doors with simple stone frames, and in between them is a niche with a baroque sculpture of the city’s prince, Nicola Marcella. In 1975 the adaptation of the Prince’s Palace was completed, which covers more then 2500m2 and enables contemporary functioning of the museum.

 

The Šibenik City Museum is a complex type of museum, and consists of archeological, cultural-historic and ethnographic departments. Its duties consist of collecting, taking care of, elaborating and presenting the cultural-historical heritage of the Šibenik region. It’s collections consist of a number of valuable items significant for the study of Šibenik’s history, from the oldest times until present days

 

Treasury of Benedictine nunnery of St. Luce

The Treasury collection contains religious objects for liturgical use, as well as paintings and sculptures ,and the most captiving of the exhibits is a painted clay Madonna dating from 13th century. A stone inscription above the entrance honours 17th century benefactor Nikola Buronja, who donated three of his own houses in the order to help get the monastery started.

 

The Museum of Sacral Arts – St. Barbara

The Museum of Sacral Arts is located in the church of st. Barbara near the cathedral of St. James. The museum exhibition features, among other items, the triptih of St. Barbara with St. Nikola and St. Grgur from 16th century, Renaissance stone statues of St. Petar and St. Jakov from the side wall of the cathedral of St. James . The display also includes the works of Oracio Fortezza, the great goldsmith who worked in Šibenik.

 

More information: www.sibenik-tourism

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Badly damaged throughout the centuries, the Fortress was renovated in 2014, when a new facility was added, the unique open-air stage. The renewed promenade on the ramparts of the Fortress and spectacular evening events once again made the Fortress a centre of the city of Šibenik and the region.
Enjoy an unforgettable sunset and a view of the Šibenik archipelago, sheltered by St. Michael, the patron of the city.

The Fortress of st. Nicholas

The Fortress of St. John

Barone Fortress – More than Reality

The experience of bravery of the historic Šibenik is complemented by rustic, forgotten flavours of times past. Taste the rich regional cuisine in our gastronomic and cultural centre of the Mediterranean type – may your memories of Šibenik be those of authentic products of local family farms.

Walls, towers and city gates

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Every year in the month of September in the eve of St. Michael’s day a “Fair in the Medieval Sibenik” takes place, a fair for inhabitants and peasants, masters of old Handicrafts and gastronomic specialties.

ORGAN SUMMER SCHOOL

In 1993, a group of enthusiasts, knowing above mentioned facts, established the Organ Summer School in Šibenik. The Organ Summer School courses consist of lectures where the organ players and music teachers enrich their knowledge and experience. A lot of research on church music has also been done so far. Besides the courses many organ music concerts are also held during that period. The participants of the organ school also take care about the restoration and permanent maintenance of the twelve organs from this region.
www.organum.hr

EASTER BREAKFAST

Every year on Easter Monday, Šibenik Tourist Board (together with the section for caterers and section for production activities of the Šibenik Tradesmen Association) organize an Easter Breakfast, a tradition that marks the beginning of the tourist season.

MUSICA APPASSIONATA

Musica appassionata is Šibenik’s classical music festival organized by the Croatian National Theatre at the end of July and at the beginning of August. It brings together eminent national and foreign artists. This festival is a unique musical experience that takes place in a number of locations that are considered valuable cultural monuments, offering visitors an excellent cultural and music experience. 

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Nevertheless, the most distinctive trait of the cultural scene in Šibenik, and its trademark of a kind, is the International Children’s Festival — internationally recognised Croatian cultural event, unique in the world for four decades.

The first festival was held in 1958, the result of the initiative and efforts of several children arts enthusiasts, but it quickly turned into a big, complex, internationally important festival and stage mechanism, founded on three elements — children, the festival and the city. It is certainly a multidisciplinary multimedial cultural event, which not only displays but invites participation actively. It is a review of the best works for children as well as of the best works by children.

During the festival, Šibenik is the place where poets and children meet, where the open-air cinema on the stairs of the old town shows films for children, where there are workshops for journalism, sculpture, comics, film and video, architecture and building, poetry, painting, graphic design, information technologies, puppetry, music and dance. Various artistic forms bring together, in the streets and squares of Šibenik, representatives of the cultures of all continents, who have been contributing in creating a nobler, culturally enlightened person of today’s global community.
www.mdf-sibenik.com

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