Šibenik,city of St.James

Šibenik (Italian: Sebenico) is a historic town in Croatia, population 51,553 (2001). It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Located at 43°44′06″N, 15°53′26″E, Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin county.

History

Šibenik was mentioned for the first time under its present name in 1066 in a Charter of the Croatian King Petar Krešimir IV. For a period of time was a seat of Croatian King. For that reason, Šibenik is also called "Krešimirov grad" (Krešimir's city). Unlike other Dalmatian towns that were founded by the Illyrians, Greeks, and Romans, it is the oldest native Croatian town on the eastern shores of the Adriatic.
Šibenik was given the status of a town and its own diocese in 1298. Excavations of the castle of Saint Michael have since proven that the place was inhabited long before the actual arrival of the Croats. The city, like the rest of Dalmatia, resisted the Venetians up to 1412. The Ottoman Empire started to threaten Šibenik at the end of the 15th century, but they never succeed in conquering it. In the 16th century, the fortress of St. Nicholas was built and, by the 17th century, its fortifications were improved again by the fortresses of St. John (Tanaja) and Šubićevac (Barone).
The fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 brought Šibenik under the authority of the Habsburg Monarchy. After World War I it was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, while during World War II it was occupied by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. After WWII it was a part of the SFR Yugoslavia until Croatia declared independence in 1991. On September 16 that same year, Šibenik was heavily attacked from the air, sea and land by the Yugoslav army. The attack lasted for almost a week and ended with a great and clear victory for croatian defenders, which forced the enemy to withdraw their position far from the city. During the attack of Sibenik, one of the most famous episode of the whole war had place. Two Yugoslavian airplanes that were bombing the city, were hit from Croatian soldiers in almost the same time. A TV journalist caught the whole event on videotape and a Croatian soldier standing close to the cameraman could be heard joyfully shouting the now famous words: "Oba dva! Oba su pala!" ("Both of them! Both of them fell!"). During the attack, the Theatre of Sibenik, which was built in 1870 (and was the biggest and most beautiful theater in the country), was blown up by a Serb grenade. It was thoroughly restored and officially reopened in 2001.

The central church in Šibenik, the Cathedral of St. James, is on the UNESCO world heritage list.
Several successive architects built it completely in stone in the 15th and 16th centuries, both in Gothic and in Renaissance style. The interlocking stone slabs of the Cathedral's roof were damaged when the city was shelled by Serbian forces in 1991. The damage has since been repaired.

Notable people

St. Nikola Tavelić, first Croatian saint
Faust Vrančić, inventor
Antun Vrančić, writer
Natale Bonifazio, woodcarver
Giorgio Orsini, architect and sculptor
Roberto Ferruzzi, painter
Krešimir Baranović, composer and conducter
Ester Mazzoleni, opera singer
Mišo Kovač, singer
Arsen Dedić, musician
Niccolò Tommaseo, Italian linguist and journalist
Roberto de Visiani, botanist
Angelo Antonio Frari, famous physician, epidemiologist, historian of medicine, and protomedicus of Venice
Dražen Petrović, basketball player
Ivo Brešan writer
Goran Višnjić, actor, best known for his role on ER).
Branko Grgić, president of Hajduk Split
Perica Bukić, former water polo player and politician
Maksim Mrvica, pianist
Ante Rukavina, football player
Gordon Schildenfeld, football player
Anthony Maglica, inventor