City Walls of Zadar
City Walls of Zadar are listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list from 2017, with the Šibenik`s Fortress of St. Nicholas, both as the unique examples of Venetian fortification construction between the 15th and 17th centuries. The Venetian Republic occupied Zadar and the greater part of Dalmatia at the beginning of the 15th century, and its dominion will be maintained by the end of the 18th century. The Venetians built numerous fortifications and infrastructure in that period that has been preserved to date. Zadar played a central role as the administrative center of the entire eastern Adriatic coast, but also as the largest fortress city in the Republic of Venice. At the beginning of the 15th century, the northern part of the town already had a fortress of Kaštel, and the Venetians had raised another one in the southern part of Zadar, the Citadel of Zadar, immediately after the establishment of their authority. From the Citadel to Kaštel, a rocky embankment was built at sea level in order to protect the city from the seaside, and the Venetians begin to accelerate the erection of city walls and a series of smaller fortresses, bastions, immediately after the construction of the Citadela, so that Zadar could resist the Turks whose invasions were constantly threatening. In Foča harbor there is the Land Gate, built in 1543 according to the designs by Michele Sanmicheli, which are the most important monument of Renaissance architecture from Venetian age. According to historians, Zadar's fortification system had 30 something doors, with most notably New Gate, Gate of St. Roko, Chain Gate, Gate of St. Dimitrije, Gate of St. Krsevan, also called the Sea Gate. Over the centuries, many of them have been buried, rebuilt and reopened, and their importance is in many reliefs and inscriptions that mark them along with the time of its construction. The Land Gate was closing every evening until December 14, 1868. On that date, Zadar stopped being a fortress. The western ramparts on which the Land Gate was located were cut off from the mainland by a channel until 1929 when the channel was buried, and Zadar got today's appearance of the peninsula. A few decades later a walking path was built at the foot of Walls in Foša Harbor. Despite the numerous interventions in the appearance of Zadar's walls in history, they are one of the most impressive examples in Europe with as much as 3 kilometers of length around the old town core today. If you rent an apartment, room or holiday house in Zadar, walk along the ramparts, which are still keeping the intimacy of the mornings in the heart of one of the most beautiful towns on the Adriatic.
