Preko (Italian: Oltre; lit. "Across") is a village and a municipality in

Zadar County Zadar County ( ) is a county in Croatia, it encompasses northern Dalmatia and southeastern Lika. Its seat is the city of Zadar. Geography Among the largest towns in the county of Zadar are: Zadar, Benkovac, Bibinje, Biograd, Nin, Croatia, Nin ...

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, as the name suggests, opposite of

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

, on the island of

Ugljan Ugljan () is an List of inhabited islands of Croatia, island in northern Dalmatia, Croatia, and the first in the Zadar Archipelago. It is located northwest of the island of Pašman and southeast of the islands of Rivanj and Sestrunj. Separated f ...

, in northern

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

. Its old centre consists of typical Dalmatian architecture with numerous patrician family summer houses. According to the 2011 census, there are 3,805 inhabitants, 88% which are

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

History

Sitting in the mountains above Preko is Fort St. Michael, built by the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

in the 6th century. The castle was rebuilt by the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

in the 13th century. Its main purpose was control above channel of Zadar and the archipelago of islands behind the island of Ugljan. The castle was sacked by English

crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

on their way to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

, and by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The high position of the castle made it the perfect lookout and listening station for the occupying Germans. Today, the castle is home to a telecommunications station. About 80 m from Preko lies the islet of Galevac (Školjić). The 11th century Romanesque church of

St. John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

is situated on the eastern side of the locality, near the ferry port. Preko is the closest starting point for the excursion to Fort St. Michael (265 m above the sea level). The view from the fortress extends to more than 200 islands of the archipelago of Zadar and the

Kornati National Park The Kornati archipelago () of Croatia, also known as the Stomorski islands, is located in the northern part of Dalmatia, south from Zadar and west from Šibenik, in the Šibenik-Knin County. With length and 89 islands, some large, some small, i ...

Demographics

In 2021, the municipality had 3,556 residents in the following 8 settlements: * Lukoran, population 478 * Ošljak, population 35 * Poljana, population 321 *Preko, population 1250 * Rivanj, population 23 * Sestrunj, population 45 *

Sutomišćica Sutomišćica is a village in Croatia, on the eastern side of the island of Ugljan in the region of Dalmatia. Sutomišćica, which was already inhabited in ancient times, is situated in a beautiful bay of the same name, about 3 km from Preko. On ...

, population 380 *

, population 1024

References

External links

Municipal websiteIsland Dugljan
Municipalities of Croatia Populated places in Zadar County Ugljan {{Zadar-geo-stub