Croatian cultural heritage - Business - Hrvatska turistička zajednica

41
42
the Motovun forest greens. The town is the venue for the Motovun
Film Festival, which, unlike the more traditional Pula Film
Festival, attracts mainly young audiences and thus provides a
kind of injection of vitality to this ancient city.
The magical Grožnjan (41) is revived by young people as it is
the International Cultural Centre of the Croatian Musical Youth
(39). There is old Buzet (43), Oprtalj, Hum, Pićan, the romantic
Završje (42) and many other towns. In addition to decorating the
Istrian hills, most of these towns have beautiful vantage points
from which, as in Buzet (44), the magic beauty of the Istrian land
can be enjoyed. Istria also boasts the smallest city in the world,
tiny Hum, with only 17 inhabitants. It is known for the Glagolitic
road – a seven kilometre long road decorated with sculptures of
stylized letters from the old Croatian alphabet, Glagolitic (45).
The interiors of churches and palaces from the Istrian interior
offer many interesting features, such as the attractive interior
of the church of St. Blaise in Vodnjan, with mummies of saints
from the time of early Christianity, and the altar (40) and valuable
paintings (37) in the church of Santa Maria in Buje. Of all
the art in churches, perhaps the most famous are the frescoes by
Vincent of Kastav, depicting a death dance from the 15th century,
located in the church of Santa Maria in Škrlin, in Beram
near Pazin (52).
The town of LABIN (47) holds a special place in Istria, as the
only major city in the East of the Istrian County. This former
mining town has a particularly picturesque historical centre (36
& 38) full of important buildings from different historical periods
in which there are numerous galleries and small museums.
Particularly interesting is the outdoor sculpture gallery, where
nowadays, numerous domestic and foreign sculptors create and
exhibit their work (56). The city is also known for the revolution
of the miners, who rebelled against the fascist occupiers
between the two World Wars.
43
44
45
15