Pazin

Pazin ( it, Pisino, german: Mitterburg) is a town in western Croatia, the administrative seat of Istria County. It is known for the medieval Pazin Castle, the former residence of the Istrian margraves.

Geography

The town had a population of 8,638 in 2011, of which 4,386 lived in the urban settlement. In 1991 it was made the capital of the county for its location in the geographical centre of the Istrian peninsula and in order to boost the development of its interior territories.

History

Pazin was first mentioned as ''Castrum Pisinum'' in a 983 deed regarding a donation by Emperor Otto II to the Diocese of Poreč.Naklada Naprijed, ''The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide'', pg. 27, Zagreb (1999), It then belonged to the Imperial March of Istria, which had originally been under the suzerainty of the newly established Duchy of Carinthia in 976, but separated together with the March of Carniola in 1040.

In the 12th century Mitterburg Castle was in possession of the Lower Carniolan count Meinhard of Schwarzenburg, who held the office of a vogt of the Poreč bishops (in Latin documents he is known as ''Cernogradus''), and established the Pazin County (earldom). Upon his death, Pazin was inherited by his son-in-law Count Engelbert III of Gorizia (Görz) in 1186.

The Istrian contract (''Razvod istarski'') was written in 1325 in Croatian and in the Glagolitic script.

While most of Istria had gradually been annexed by Venice, Engelbert's descendant Count Albert III of Gorizia in 1374 bequested his Mitterburg estates to the Austrian House of Habsburg, who attached them to their Duchy of Carniola and gave it out in fief to various families, the last of which was the comital House of Montecuccoli from 1766.
Until 1918, the town (under the name Pisino) was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austrian side after the compromise of 1867), seat of the district of the same name, one of the 11 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in the Austrian Littoral province.

In the same year, Pazin and all the Peninsula of Istria were transferred to the Kingdom of Italy. Benito Mussolini, then, introduced a fascist regime in Italy which, under the "Duce", began to Italianize the region. There were already many speakers of Italian and Istro-veneto in Pazin. In fact, Pazin was a very multicultural and multilingual town due to its location. Most of Istria became part of Yugoslavia after World War II with the Treaty of Paris in 1947. In September 1943, Pazin was attacked and bombarded by Yugoslav Partisans, and subsequently became part of modern day Croatia.

Sights

The current town was mostly built beneath the medieval fortress. The present-day Pazin Castle was rebuilt in the 15th and 16th century and disassembled in the 18th and 19th. It has been a museum since the end of World War II.

The Pazin ponor (''Pazinska jama/Foiba'') located under the castle was partially explored by Édouard-Alfred Martel in 1896 and is the best example of karst hydrography and morphology in Istria. Castle and a gorge inspired Jules Verne for the novel '' Mathias Sandorf'' of 1885.

Settlements

The town's administrative area consists of 18 settlements with their respective populations:
* Beram, 234
* Bertoši, 325
* Brajkovići, 353
* Butoniga, 74
* Grdoselo, 119
* Heki, 469
* Ježenj, 141
* Kašćerga, 256
* Kršikla, 48
* Lindar, 402
* Lovrin, 364
* Pazin, 4,386
* Trviž, 409
* Vela Traba, 227
* Zabrežani, 426
* Zamask, 58
* Zamaski Dol, 51
* Zarečje, 296

Famous people born in Pazin

*Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–1975), composer
*Juraj Dobrila (1812–1882), Catholic bishop of Istria
* Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini (1910–1965), poet and writer
* Radojka Šverko (born 1948), singer
* Wilhelm Karl Emil Legler (1875–1951), Austrian painter, married in 1900 to Grete Schindler (sister of Alma Mahler)
Please, do notice that the mentioned Legler was the son of Wilhelm Legler junior (1875–1951) and Margaretha Julie (Grete) Schindler (1880–1943). Wilhelm Karl Emil Legler was born 1902 in Stuttgart and died in Vienna 1960. He is named after the painters Karl Moll (1861–1945) and his grandfather Emil J. Schindler (1842–1892) and was by profession an architect.

Climate

Climate in this area has high diurnal variations, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb". (Marine West Coast Climate).Climate Summary
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References

External links

PazinPazin portalPazin tourist board

{{Authority control

Cities and towns in Croatia
Populated places in Istria County

10th-century establishments in Croatia
983 establishments