Krk
Krk (Italian Veglia, Latin Curicta) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.
Krk is the largest Adriatic island, with an area of 405 km² (exactly 405,218.994 m²)), and also the most populous one, with numerous towns and villages totalling 16,402 (2001). Although recent student surveys pointed that Cres is the largest Croatian island, official data show that Krk is the largest.
The municipalities and larger settlements on Krk include:
- The eponymous city of Krk, with 5,491 inhabitants (2001), located at .
- Omišalj, 2,998 people
- Malinska-Dubašnica, 2,726 people
- Punat, 1,876 people
- Dobrinj, 1,970 people
- Baška, 1,554 people
- Vrbnik, 1,245 people
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Economics and infrastructure
Krk (italian Veglia) is located rather near the mainland and has been connected to it via a 1,430 meter two-arch concrete bridge since 1980, one of the longest concrete bridges in the world. Due to the proximity to the city of Rijeka (italian Fiume), Omišalj (italian Castelmuschio) also hosts the Rijeka International Airport as well as an oil refinery (related to the Rijeka port tanker facilities). A monastery lies on the small island of Košljun in a bay off the coast of Krk.
Krk is a popular tourist destination, because of the situation and proximity to Slovenia, southern Germany, Austria, and northern Italy.Since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, many tourists have appeared from Hungary, Romania, and other former Eastern Bloc countries.
History
The island has been inhabited since before 10th century BCE.The Romans called the island Curicta.During the Roman Civil War, the Bay of Curicta was the scene of sea combat between the fleets of Caesar and Pompey.
Over a thousand years later, the island was the center of the Vegliot dialect of the Dalmatian language. Krk was also the seat of medieval bishops and important nobility, the Frankopans.
Culture and religion
Krk has historically been a center of Croatian culture. Various literature in Glagolitic alphabet was created and in part preserved on Krk (notably the Baška Tablet, the oldest preserved text in Croatian).
Catholic bishopric
A Catholic diocese, called Veglia, existed, under Austrian rule suffragan of Görz-Gradisca. Parallel to the Dinaric Alps are a number of rocky islands, separated from the mainland by a deep, though narrow, strait. The largest of them is Veglia, which in the year 1000 had a bishop, Vitalis, who was preset at a synod in Spoleto. Pope Eugene III made it a suffragan of Zara, but since 1828 it has been under Görz. Bartholomaus Bozarich was present at the assembly of bishops in 1849 and his successor was a member of the First Vatican Council. Although Veglia is a triple see, it contained in the early 20th Century only 809,000 Catholics, 95 secular priests, 64 regulars, and 68 nuns. Under bishop Antun Mahnić (1896-1920) the Altslawi academy was established in 1902, and existed until 1927.
- Still more ancient is the see of Ossero (Lusin, Absor, Auxerensis), to whose bishop Pope John VIII wrote in 870. The fifty-fifth bishop, Raccamarich, was transferred to Cattaro in 1818, and Ossero and Veglia were united.
- The See of Arbe (Scardona) is even more ancient. Its first known bishop attended a council at Salona in 530. The fifty-eight bishop, Galzigna (d. in 1823), was also the last, as his diocese was merged in that of Veglia.
Other
The fictional island Everon from the video game Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis is based on Krk.
Further reading
- Anton Bozanić: Mahnić i njegova Staroslavenska akademija. Krk u. Rijeka 2002.
Sources and external links
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia.
- Krk official site (tourist board)
- CroMaps: Maps island Krk
- Tourist destinations on Krk
- Accommodation on Krk
| edit | Municipalities of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County |  |
|---|---|---|
| Bakar | Baška | Brod Moravice | Cres | Crikvenica | Čabar | Čavle | Delnice | Dobrinj | Fužine | Jelenje | Kastav | Klana | Kostrena | Kraljevica | Krk | Lokve | Lovran | Mali Lošinj | Malinska-Dubašnica | Matulji | Mošćenička Draga | Mrkopalj | Novi Vinodolski | Omišalj | Opatija | Punat | Rab | Ravna Gora | Rijeka | Skrad | Vinodolska | Viškovo | Vrbnik | Vrbovsko | ||
Categories
Derived from Catholic Encyclopedia | Islands of Croatia | Towns in Croatia