This is the
main town of Istria. Developed out of a hill-fort (18th to 10th c. BC); the name Pola is
of Illyrian origin. The end of the 1st century BC marked the beginning of the Roman
colonization; around 43 BC. Pula attained the status of a Roman colony and was called
Pietas Iulia. In the early Middle Ages it was included in the Ravenna exarchate, and from
AD 788 it was under the Frankonian rule. After having changed several sovereigns, it fell
under the rule of the Aquileian patriarch in 1230, and after 1331 under the protection of
Venice all up to the collapse of Venice (1797), when it came under the Austrian rule.
Except for a short period of the French rule (1805-1813), Pula (Pola) was part of
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (until 1918). The construction of the large shipyard in 1886
made Pula (Pola) the major Austrian military port; the economic boom, in particular in the
field of trade, occurred at the end of the 19th century. At the end of the First World War
was part of Italy (1918). According to the Treaty of Rapallo (1920), Pula was ceded to
Italy, and after the fall of Italy in 1943, the German troops occupied the town. At the
end of the Second World War Pula (Pola) was in the hands of the Allied Forces; annexed to
Jugoslavia in 1947, 90% of the population left the city for Italy. After the dissolution
of Jugoslavia became part of Croatia.
The most famous and
important monument of Pula (Pola) is the Roman
Amphitheatre (commonly called Arena), from the 1st and 2nd centuries, it occupies a
dominant position above the harbour. It was built in the 1st century AD during the reign
of Emperor Vespasian, at the same time as the magnificent Colosseum in Rome. It has an
elliptic ground-plan (132.45 x 105.10 m), the walls are 30.45 m high; it could seat 23,000
spectators. It is the world's sixth largest preserved amphitheatre. The Amphitheater is
situated outside the old city walls. The historical center of the city can be reached
throught Amfiteatarska street on the left is the Porta Gemina from the 2nd century; an
inscription is built-in above the Gate.
Here is the Archaeological Museum of Istria, the
ruins of the Roman theatre (Theatrum Juliae), with preserved fragments of the orchestra
are behind the Museum. A part of the town wall running from the Porta Gemina to the Porta
Herculea (from the mid-1st c. bC) has been preserved; the Porta Herculea is crowned by the
bearded head of Hercules. Following we reached the gardens where is the richly adorned
Triumphal Arch of the Sergi, erected in I century bC near the inner part of the disappear
main town gate (Porta aurea, collapsed in 1829).
Through the Triumphal Arch of the Sergi one enters Sergi Street. Sergi Street terminates
at Forum, which is located on the former Roman forum. The Temple of Augustus (of the
goddess Romae and Emperor Augustus) from the 1st century is located on the northern side
of the square, on an elevated base, with a portico comprising six Corinthian columns and a
closed cella. The Town Hall is near the temple, attached in 1296 to the Roman temple (of
Diana); the back of the temple has been preserved. The eastern façade of the Town Hall
has rich late Romanesque ornamentation, and the façade facing the square, with a portico
(loggia) on the ground-floor, was restored in 1653. Kandler Street, passing by the Town
Hall, leads to the three-nave cathedral of St. Mary, built in the 5th century, restored in
the 15th century and extended in 1640. The main front was built in the Renaissance style.
A Roman sarcophagus from the 3rd century is used as the main altar; the floor reveals
fragments of the 5th and 6th-century mosaics. The Renaissance south portal was made in
1456. The late Gothic Demartini palace (Kandler Street 12) is not far from the cathedral.
From the cathedral a path leads to Kastel on the top of the hill. Kastel has four
protruding bastions built by the Venetians in 1631; under the Napoleon rule, Kastel was
annexed, and restored in 1830. Today it houses the Historical Museum of Istria.
Vodnjan
(Dignano) is a town in the south-western part of Istria, 10 km north of Pula (Pola). The
old part of the town features several houses built in Venetian Gothic, Renaissance and
Baroque styles, which have been well preserved. To visit: Bettica Palace (14th century),
Bradamante Palace (17th century), the parochial of San Biagio (1760-1800 the present
church is a monumental Baroque structure from 1800). It houses a Renaissance tabernacle
from 1451, several valuable paintings from the 16th and 18th centuries, among the
paintings, the most important are the polyptych of Bl. Leon Bembo, a work by Paolo
Veneziano from 1321, the painting Our Lady of Refuge (Jacobello del Fiore, ?), the icon of
the Blessed Virgin Mary (15th-16th c.) and the Renaissance triptych of Bl. Leon Bembo
(Lazaro Bastiani, beginning of the 16th c.). The famous Festa dei Bumbari is held in
Vodnjan (Dignano) (in August), based on the ethnological heritage of the local population
the Bumbari.
