Around Vransko lake
August 10, 2021
Travelling along the Adriatic coast towards the northern Dalmatia, between two historical cities of Zadar and Šibenik, you will come across a natural phenomenon – the two equally beautiful and yet so very different shades of blue. On one side you will see the well indented Adriatic coast, famous for its alluring beauty and clear sea, and on the other side you will see the largest natural lake in Croatia.
Because of its rare natural habitats, fresh water springs and biodiversity, Vransko Lake and its surroundings have been declared a Nature Park on July 21st, 1999. The Park limits are between Pirovac and Pakoštane. It stretches across 57 km², 30,02km² of that being the lake area itself, which stretches in direction north-west to the south-east, parallel with the sea coast, from which it is, in some places, less than a kilometer apart. |
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Pakostane is a harmonious Dalmatian place with rich biodiversity nestled between the sea and the lake. Blue and green, salty and sweet are the most picturesque epithets of this place.
Vrana is a historic settlement located north of the Vrana Lake, 6 kilometres (4 mi) from Pakoštane, a few kilometers from the Adriatic coast. |
The significance of Vrana to the medieval Croatian history was closely connected with three religious communities: the Benedictines, the Knights Templar, and the Knights Hospitaller. The arrival of these three orders in Vrana and their cultural and political influence was conditioned by the medieval circumstances in Croatia and by the Roman Pope. Vrana had become one of the most important centers of political life, especially in the period from 1070.
The Castrum Aureane and the Benedictine monastery of St. Gregory were mentioned as early as the period of Croatian Duke Branimir in the 9th century, which suggest a fortified monastery of significant military status. As the occasion of his coronation as the king of Croatia on October 14, 1075 in Solin, near Split, King Zvonimir Dmitar (Demetrius) made a donation and permanently bestowed the Monastary of St. Gregory in Vrana, together with its entire treasures and all its estate, to the Holy See, as a sign of loyalty to Pope Gregory VII. Since that time Vrana has been part of St. Peter's legacy and it has enjoyed Papal autonomy. It has served as the first first permanent diplomatic headquarters of the pope's deputies in the entire Slavic region uniting the offices of a nuncio and an apostolic delegate on the East Adriatic Coast. In 1136, the Holy See and the church Priory of Vrana donated this property to Knights Templar, a newly established military order, and exempted it from the local bishops' jurisdiction. This order was organized in a distinctly military manner and had from the outset been recognized for its great wealth and courage. This type of organization was the aftermath of the Crusades in the Holy Land. At that time, Vrana was fortified with walls and towers and a moat. There are assumptions that the present ruins of a fortified facility above the village were part of a fortified town with a church. After Knights Templars and when the order was disbanded in 1312, Vrana was take over by the new order of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John. The Monastery in Vrana had the right of juristiction over all the other monasteries and the prior of Vrana was superior to all the other priors in the Kingdom. The title of the Croatian Ban (ruler, governor) and the Prior of Vrana were united by the Pop's special decree which gave great religious, political, and military power to one person. The most celebrated of the Priors were Ivan Palizna and Petar Berislavic, whose busts can ben seen in the Zagreb Cathedral. The insignia of the Croatian Kingdom, which included two golden crowns, were held within the walls of Vrana for a long period. The fact that Croatian royal insignia were kept in Vrana led to the coronation of Hungarian King Coloman for the King of Croatia in 1102 in the nearby Biograd, as the closest royal residence. On Novemeber 4, 1383 Vrana was visited by Hungarian-Criatian Queen Mary, accompanied by her sister Hedwig, who was to becom eQueen of Planad the following year, and Queen Mather Elizabeth Kotromanic, Bosnia King Tvrtko's sister. The Ottoman Empire conquered Vrana in 1527, and it remained under their control for a century, until 1648 when it was take over by the Republic of Venice. When Venetians took Vrana from the Turks, they systematically destroyed the castle and the suburban settlement, leaving only contours of its original form. After this destruction Vrana never regained even a fraction of its glorious past. |
Difference between the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller |
The han (an oriental inn) in Vrana is the most impressive and refined monument of Islamic secular architecture from the Period of the Ottoman Turk's domination in this part of Europe.
It was commissioned in 1644 by Jusuf Pasha Mašković, a native of Vrana and the most esteemed Croat in the Ottoman Court of the time, and admiral of the Turkish fleet and military commander, who planned to use it as an inn and residence after his retirement. He entrusted the construction of the had to Durakbeg, master of the Turskish Vrana. There were 500 workers on the contrustion site every day for the building material they partially used stone blocks from the nearby Roman fortress on Zamina. The Candian War (1645 - 1669) and Mašković's death prevented the completion of the building as it had been conceived - leaving only the torso of this stately edifice to stand to this day. In 1645, Mašković, with 60,000 warriors, conquered Crete and became Marshal of Crete. The generosity and gallantry that he exercised towards the defeated Venetian soldiers and citizens after capturing the island secured him a position among the most excellent warriors of all times, because he rewarded all the brave and valiant defenders of Crete and allowed them to leave the island. But he provoked the anger of the sultan who summoned him to the court where Mašković was then executed. That he was held in high esteem even among the enemies of the Ottomans can be seen from the fact that the han he had built in his native Vrana was left undamaged after the Turks were driven out while every other trace of their architecture in Dalmatia was destroyed. |
The Han has now been completely renovated into an amazing hotel: Heritage Hotel Maskovica Han and was the winner of the BigSEE Interior Design Award 2020.
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Building on the border: two-level watchtower, preserved in about 70% of the original state, witness to turbulent history between Turkish and Venetian Dalmatia.
Border guard towers are fortifications build for effective protection of territory and its inhabitants from military invasions. The towers, build in the 16th century, represent very important strategic facilities, and they are located along the border on an elevated and safe place from where guards could freely observe surroundings. While Turkey occupies stronger old Croatian forts deeper in their part of the territory, the Venetian Republic is constructing a series of buildings all along the land border, next to the border line. The border, which was passing through the middle of Vransko Lake until 1699, was controlled by the Venetian military squads. One army unit had around 80 men from, 18 to 36 years, capable of weapon use, which were paid in cash or in biškota (dry bread) for their guard duty. Watchtowers also serve as custom houses for good exchange and mail, where officials worked on documentation for import and export of goods, also collecting custom duties on imported goods. They regulated trade while making sure goods and livestock brought from the east was not infected by deadly diseases that were very common at the time, like plague for example. |
Before Prosika canal was dug in the 18th century and the lake level dropped, Babin škoj used to be island and still is today, but only during high water levels. Babin škoj is a great historical site, first findings date back as early as 2000 years BC.
This part of the Adriatic coast was inhabited by the Liburnians at the time, the Illyrian tribe that built a very strong defensive system on peninsula Babin škoj which used to be an island, taking advantage of the very nature of the island – open but naturally isolated place. In this case, lake serves as a source of fresh water, but also as an excellent barrier, which is why defensive walls are found only where Babin škoj is closest to the land (connected with it today). The small peninsula is perfectly positioned for long-term defense and accommodation of local population, livestock and food supplies and was therefore in almost continuous function for several millennia. Graves, burial mounds, or tumulus can be found on top of Babin škoj, where most prominent members of the community were buried, covered with stone plates and rocks. The position and size of this stone pile tells us about the social status of the deceased – larger pile meant a higher social status. Stone pile was usually constructed over one grave, but eventually, other dead, members of the family were also buried next to the first, central tomb. Various objects, which the deceased owned during his lifetime, were placed next to him in the grave, such as weapons, clothing, clay pots with food and various ornamental objects, so Babin škoj is a valuable archaeological site. |
Who are Liburnians and where is Liburnia? |
Stone houses cannot be found everywhere, they are in some unusual, yet undetermined regularity, scattered on the Adriatic landscape. Beehive huts served farmers as shelters in the field from sudden bad weather, very important at the time when medical care was not developed nor easily accessible. Many were built during the winemaking fever in the 19th century, when phylloxera pest destroyed the French and Italian vineyards, but spared Dalmatia for few more years. On the European market wine became very valuable and expensive, which allowed vineyard owners to become rich after just few harvests, so ripe grapes had to be watched over all day and night.
Stone houses have many different names (kažuni, komarde, čemeri, pudarice, poljarice, trimi, torete…), but they all have the unique structural solution of corbel arch and were built entirely of stone (without any mortar) and without the wooden roof structure, which makes them a valuable part of cultural heritage. |
On my way around the lake I also learned a bit about the European ells that live in the lake and it's fascinating life history. European Eel is, together with Blenny (Salaria Fluviatilis), the only native fish specie in Vransko Lake. All other fish were introduced from the Danube basin in mid 20th century; with Prussian Carp being the most common and also the most invasive fish species in Vransko Lake..
The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a species of eel, a snake-like, catadromous fish. They are normally around 60–80 cm (2.0–2.6 ft) and rarely reach more than 1 m (3 ft 3 in), but can reach a length of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) in exceptional cases. While the species' lifespan in the wild has not been determined, captive specimens have lived over 80 years. Much of the European eel's life history was a mystery for centuries, as fishermen never caught anything they could identify as a young eel. Unlike many other migrating fish, eels begin their life cycle in the ocean and spend most of their lives in fresh inland water, or brackish coastal water, returning to the ocean to spawn and then die. The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) was historically the one most familiar to Western scientists, beginning with Aristotle, who wrote the earliest known inquiry into the natural history of eels. He speculated that they were born of "earth worms", which he believed were formed of mud, growing from the "guts of wet soil" rather than through sexual reproduction. Many centuries passed before scientists were able to demonstrate that such spontaneous generation does not occur in nature. In the early 1900s, Danish researcher Johannes Schmidt identified the Sargasso Sea as the most likely spawning grounds for European eels. The larvae (leptocephali) drift towards Europe in a 300-day migration. |
You have to watch the video below!!!
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And where on Earth is Sargasso Sea? The Sargasso Sea (/sɑːrˈɡæsoʊ/) is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm blue water.
How the adults make the 6,000 km (3,700 mi) open ocean journey back to their spawning grounds north of the Antilles, Haiti, and Puerto Rico remains unknown. By the time they leave the continent, their gut dissolves, making feeding impossible, so they have to rely on stored energy alone. |