Hubbry Logo
search
logo
Poreč
Poreč
current hub
2202371

Poreč

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Poreč

Poreč (pronounced [ˈpɔrɛtʃ]; Italian: Parenzo; known also by several alternative names) is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, west Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

The town is almost 2,000 years old, and is set around a harbour protected from the sea by the small island of Sveti Nikola. Its population of approximately 12,000 resides mostly on the outskirts, while the wider Poreč area has a population of approximately 16,600 inhabitants. The municipal area covers 142 square kilometres (55 sq mi), with the 37 kilometres (23 miles) long shoreline stretching from the Mirna River near Novigrad (Cittanova) to Funtana (Fontane) and Vrsar (Orsera) in the south.

Historically, Poreč or Parenzo has been known as Latin: Parens or Parentium, Ancient Greek: Πάρενθος, romanizedPárenthos and Venetian: Parenso.

During the 2nd century BC, a Roman castrum was built on a tiny peninsula with approximate dimensions of 400 m × 200 m (1,312.34 ft × 656.17 ft) where the town centre is now. During the reign of Emperor Augustus in the 1st century BC, it officially became a city and was part of the Roman colony of Colonia Iulia Parentium.

In the 3rd century the settlement had an organised Christian community with an early-Christian complex of sacral buildings. The earliest basilica contained the remains of and was dedicated to Saint Maurus of Parentium and dates back to the second half of the 4th century. The floor mosaic from its oratory, originally part of a large Roman house, is still preserved in the garden of the Euphrasian Basilica.

With the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, different rulers and powers governed. First, it was held by the Ostrogoths and after 539 was part of the Byzantine Empire. From 788 it was ruled by the Franks. A short independence period followed in the 12th century and later it was ruled by the Patriarchate of Aquileia. In 1267 Parenzo became the first Istrian city that chose to become part of the Republic of Venice, whose rule lasted for more than five centuries. During this period several palaces, squares and religious buildings in Venetian style were built.

On 16 August 1354 the city was destroyed by the Genoese under Paganino Doria, who carried off the relics of saints Eleutherius and Maurus to Genoa, where they were deposited at the church of San Matteo. In 1363 the town was given the City Statute.

The population was decimated by plague at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. After the fall of the Venetian Republic, Parenzo came under the sovereignty of the Habsburg monarchy.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.