Zadar [antikvár]

ZADAR - A CITY THAT ENDURES"And Zadar endures many years Because pure gold is not tarnished by rust." (Juraj Barakovic, "Slav Fairy", 1614)It has been likened to a ship, anchored stone ship. A stone ship sailing trough time. Yes, it is a city that has endured for centuries. It has been captured, destroyed, sold, but its inhabitants always renewed it, loved it, fought for it. What has determined such a fate? What were the factors that have shaped it just like that? - It was primarily its geographical position!In the times of navigation by sail, from the distant centuries of prehistory until the appearance of steamship in the 19th century, on the sea route through the Adriatic Zadar was unavoidable point, unavoidable port and place of rest. The Adriatic sea route, linking the eastern Mediterranean, where overland commercial routes from the East met, and middle Europe via the northern Adriatic ports, this route led trough the islands of the eastern seaboard, and the position of the port of Zadar sheltered from the winds, gave ships a convenient shelter. To possess the city was to control the route. The strategic importance of Zadar was aptly summed by a 15th century Venetian governor: "Tenendo Jadram tenebitur tota Dalmatia" (Keeping Zadar you keep all Dalmatia).The second factor is the background - Ravni Kotari - with fertile fields and meadows and ramified routes towards the interior. Navigation, commerce and agriculture in the hinterland constituted the main bases of life in Zadar through the centuries.But let us start from the beginning! It was a small stone peninsula enclosing a natural harbour. The environs of Zadar were populated as early as the New Stone Age - the Neolithic Period - when people started to practice agriculture, barter and navigation. No doubt, the harbour was being used as early as then. Those first inhabitants of the region left proof not only of the degree of their civilisation but also of their exceptional artistic taste.The character of the civilisation of the inhabitants of the Zadar region changed with the appearance of metal. Primitive forts were built, and their remains are the earliest examples of architecture in the region. Such a fort was also built on the Zadar peninsula next to the natural harbour, sheltered from all dangerous winds. This was the embryo of present-day Zadar. It is not known for certain who founded it. Its earliest name Jader, Jadera (recorded also as Idassa) is linked with the speech of the Mediterranean aborigines, before the coming of the Indo-Europeans, i.e. the Illyrian tribes, to the Adriatic.From the Bronze Age and especially from the Iron Age, when the region was under the Liburnians, an Illyrian people, many remains have come to us. In addition to pottery objects, which are markedly different from the earlier Neolithic ones, specimens of weapons, useful objects and a lot of jewellery made of bronze and amber have been preserved. The Liburnians, whose territory spread from Istria to the river Krka, were excellent seamen and had early established commercial relations with the opposite coast of the Adriatic and with Greece, so that archaeological excavations brought to light beautiful specimens of imported Greek pottery, from the archaic to the classical periods.7