KRK

Kroz nestalne vjekove na Krk, otok neodoljive ljepote,
u strujama razli~itih interesa uplovljavali su
razni gospodari i vladari. Tijekom povijesne zbilje otok
je du`e ili kra}e vrijeme, ili pak naizmjence, bio u
sklopu ilirske, rimske, bizantske, frana~ke, hrvatske,
ugarsko-hrvatske, mleta~ke, francuske, austrijske
odnosno austrougarske, talijanske, njema~ke, jugoslavenske
dr`ave.
Danas, Krk je sastavni dio Republike Hrvatske. Sredina
je to vrlo stara, iskusna i `iva, postojana u
promjeni, jedinstvena u raznolikosti.
Uz ostatke starih ilirskih naseobina kao npr. kod
Krasa u sredi{njem dijelu otoka ili na obalnom
podru~ju kod Krka, Omi{lja, Vrbnika na pojedinim
lokalitetima naziru se i tragovi Grka, a u legendi
opisano njihovo naselje Korintija vjerojatno je bilo
smje{teno u okolici Ba{ke. Od rimske dominacije
otokom po~etkom prvog stolje}a nove ere razvijaju se
dvije sna`ne gradske cjeline – stara Kurikta, dana{nji
grad Krk na jugu, te novi Fulfinium na sjeverozapadu
kod Omi{lja koji je vjerojatno stradao dolaskom Slavena
- Hrvata.
Hrvati se doseljavaju na sjeverni Jadran koncem 6.
i po~etkom 7. stolje}a u doba “velike seobe” azijskog i
europskog pu~anstva.
U tim dalekim, nejasnim i tajnovito{}u obavijenim
vremenima ranog srednjeg vijeka nakon sloma rimskoga
imperija u velikim migracijskim kretanjima naroda,
u nastojanju nala`enja vedrijeg i toplijeg `ivotnog
prostora, potaknuti vjerojatno i ~udesnim ljudskim
nagonom da u kretanjima i lutanjima ostvaruju neke
neispunjene ~e`nje, krenuli su i Slaveni - Hrvati iz
nizinske mo~varne, maglovite, {umovite i hladne
isto~noeuropske prapostojbine i nakon mu~nih lutanja
i tra`enja stigli do ~udesno topla Mediterana,
neodoljivih obala Jadranskoga mora, na otok Krk.
Od njihova dolaska prohujala su stolje}a. Mo`emo
li zamisliti prvi susret tih na{ih dalekih predaka s
plavom morskom pu~inom, bajkovitom sljubljenosti
obala, otoka i mora? Pred tom ~udesnom ljepotom krajolika
prizor je sigurno bio dojmljiv, pun nevjerice i
uzbu|enja.
“More je ~ovjekova sudbina”, vjerovali su i vjeruju
mnogi. Na sudbinu Hrvata more je od samog po~etka,
od prvog susreta do danas, imalo presudan utjecaj.
Okupljanje Hrvata na obalama Jadrana u doba
katoli~ko - latinskog srednjovjekovnog univerzalizma
u sjeni ru{evina rimskoga carstva omogu}ilo im je da
stvore veze s morem, raznim kulturama i civilizacijom
Mediterana. U ozra~ju Mediterana, gdje se pro`imaju
razni kulturni utjecaji i struje, svje`i duhovni naboji,
Hrvati su obuzdali svoje nemire, privikli se moru,
ribolovu, pomorstvu, maslinarstvu, vinogradarstvu,
sto~arstvu i iskonsko pogansko vjerovanje oplemenili
su kr{}anskim naukom.
Od Savudrije na sjeverozapadu istarskog poluotoka,
pa sve do Palagru`e i Prevlake na jugu, odnosno
rta O{tro na ulazu u Bokakotorski zaljev, prote`e se
obala Republike Hrvatske u du`ini od 1777 kilometara.
Pred njom je razasuto ni vi{e ni manje nego
1185 otoka, oto~i}a, grebena i hridi koji obalni rub
Jadrana pove}avaju na gotovo 6000 kilometara.
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Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Croatian, Ungaro-Croatian,
Venetian, French, Austrian and Austro-Hungarian,
Italian, German and Yugoslav state. Today, Krk is
an integral part of the Republic of Croatia. This is a
territory very old, experienced, lively, steady in change
and undivided in diversity.
In addition to the remains of the old Illyrian settlements,
such as the ones by Kras in the central part of
the island or on the coast by Krk, Omi{alj and Vrbnik,
traces of ancient Greeks can be found as well on several
sites. Their settlement, described by a legend as Corintia,
was probably located in the surroundings of
Ba{ka. Since the Roman domination on the island at
the beginning of the 1 st century C.E. two strong urban
units had developed: the old Curicta, present-day Krk,
in the south, and the new Fulfinium in the northwest,
by Omi{alj, which was probably destroyed with the
arrival of the Slavs – Croats.
The Croats settled the northern Adriatic in the late
6 th and the early 7 th century at the time of “the great
migration” of the Asian and the European peoples.
It was in those distant, blurred and mysterious
times of the early Middle Ages, and after the fall of
the Roman Empire that, in an attempt of finding a
more serene and warmer living space and probably
inspired by the miraculous human instinct in movement
and wanderings to achieve unfulfilled desires,
the Slavs – Croats departed from the lowland, marsh,
foggy, wooded and cold East European primeval homeland.
After arduous wanderings and quests, they
reached the miraculously warm Mediterranean, the
irresistible shores of the Adriatic Sea, the island of
Krk.
Centuries have gone by since their arrival. Can we
fathom the first encounter of our distant predecessors
with the blue seas, the fabulous fusion of the shores,
the islands and the sea? Certainly, the view of this
miraculously beautiful landscape was impressive, full
of disbelief and excitement.
“The sea is man’s destiny,” many have believed and
still do. The sea has had a decisive impact on the destiny
of the Croats since the very beginning, since the
first encounter and to this date. Their settlement on
the shores of the Adriatic at the time of the Catholic-
Latin medieval universalism in the shadow of the
ruins of the Roman Empire enabled them to create
links with the sea, various cultures and the Mediterranean
civilization. In the Mediterranean atmosphere,
where various cultural influences, streams and fresh
spiritual charges permeated each other, the Croats
tamed their restlessness and grew accustomed to the
sea, fishing, seafaring, olive growing, viticulture and
cattle raising, and refined their genuine pagan belief
with the Christian creed.
From Savudrija in the northwest of the Istrian
peninsula, all the way to Palagru`a and Prevlaka in
the south and Cape O{tro at the entrance to the Gulf
of Boka Kotorska, the coast of the Republic of Croatia
is 1,777 km long. Scattered in front of it are no more
and no less than 1,185 islands, isles, reefs and cliffs
which increase the coastal edge of the Adriatic to nearly
6,000 km.