Lovran (, ) is a village and a municipality in

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Primorje – Gorski Kotar County (, ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in western Croatia, most of it based in the historical and cultural region called Croatia proper and some of it in Istria, including the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northe ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. It is situated in eastern

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

, on the western coast of the

Kvarner Bay The Kvarner Gulf (, or ; ; or ) sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal waters. The largest i ...

. Its name derives from

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

(''Laurus nobilis''), as shown in the coat of arms.

Population

In the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,101, in the following settlements: * Liganj, population 336 * Lovran, population 3,336 * Lovranska Draga, population 50 * Medveja, population 177 * Tuliševica, population 202

History

Lovran is one of the oldest coastal settlements on the eastern shore of Istrian peninsula. According to one legend, the town was created when the Roman patrician and statesman

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. Agrippa is well known for his important military victories, notably the B ...

built his summer residence on the site in the first century AD. The name of the settlement was first mentioned in the 7th century, as Lauriana, which reveals that the place was named after the aromatic laurel. By the

early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

it was an important urban and shipbuilding center of the northern Adriatic. Following the sudden development of port towns in the vicinity (

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

, and

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

) which became the new and dominant urban centers in the region, Lovran lost its significance. However, by the mid 19th century, the area gains prominence as it becomes a fashionable resort for the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

nobility. The long tradition of tourism is still strongly felt in the Lovran region, and it forms the backbone of the economy. The region is rich with cultural-historical heritage. A parish church with medieval frescoes and

Glagolitic The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...

inscriptions, and the 14th-century tower of

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

's Square within the old urban core, as well as rural ambiances and architectural edifices – namely turn-of-the-century villas with surrounding parks, are general points of interest.

Sister cities

Castel San Pietro Terme Castel San Pietro Terme ( Eastern Bolognese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, with about 21,000 inhabitants. It is located along the Roman '' Via Emilia'', at the foot o ...

, Italy *

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

, Italy *

Nova Gorica Nova Gorica () is a town in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. It is the seat of the Municipality of Nova Gorica. Nova Gorica is a planned town, built according to the principles of modernist architecture after 1947, when the Treaty of pe ...

, Slovenia

Monuments and sights

Art installation "Puli Mȁlina" (By the Mill)

Source: "Puli Mȁlina" (By the Mill), a

site-specific art Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork. Site-specific art is produced both by commercial artists, and independently, and can ...

pavilion by artist Davor Sanvincenti was built on the renovated remains of the old mill along the hiking trail in Lovranska Draga. The pavilion is made from natural materials from the immediate surroundings – from chestnut wood, known as “marun”, and from local stone. The concept of the pavilion is based on the idea of creating a space which, through the processes of integration into the already existing environment of Lovranska Draga, becomes a place of meeting and rest, i.e. a natural shelter and a place of learning about the peculiarities of this area. Due to the specific position of the south window, visitors have the opportunity to experience unusual interplay of sunbeams and water on the spring and fall equinox.

References

External links

Official pages

Tourism Association for the City of Lovran

www.itm.hr - About Lovran
img title="Croatia Lovran St"; style="text-decoration: none; height:150px;float: left; padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;"src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Croatia_Lovran_St._George_church_BW_2014-10-10_15-04-29.jpg" > {{authority control Municipalities of Croatia Populated places in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Populated coastal places in Croatia