Pula
The city of Pula is over 3000 years old and was founded on the hill of Kaštel, where the first hilltop settlement, the fort of the Histri, was established.
Besides the circular shape of the two main city streets, nothing remains of the prehistoric settlement. The real city history begins with the Romans. The city's official name was Colonia Pietas Iulia Pola, and it had all the typical functions and buildings of a Roman colony.
During the migration period, Slavs and Croats began settling in the wider area of Pula from the 7th century. After 1331, Pula could no longer escape the claws of the lion of St. Mark. The Venetians in Pula showed no interest in the city's economic development, as the most important thing for them was the harbor as a transit point from Venice along the eastern Adriatic coast towards the Levant. Frequent plague epidemics from the 14th century, as well as endemic malaria and other diseases, drastically reduced the population so that by the end of the 17th century, only about 600 people lived in Pula. However, since the period of humanism and the Renaissance, Pula's ancient monuments became more and more well-known in European cultural circles: the Arena, the Arch of the Sergii, and the Temple of Augustus (pictured), so many artists and builders of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries stayed in Pula, drawing and describing Roman buildings that served as architectural models from the Renaissance to Classicism.
After the fall of Venice, Istria and Pula came under Austrian rule. From 1815 until the end of World War I, Pula was part of the Austrian Littoral (Küstenland). When the Arsenal was opened in 1856, i.e., the main base of the Austrian Navy, the modern development of the city and the entire southern Istria began. After the railway connection was established in 1876 with the Vienna - Trieste line, Pula and the nearby Brijuni felt the beginnings of tourism, and all members of the imperial family, led by Franz Joseph, were guests in Pula.
The 20th century in Pula was a century of multiple regime changes, with the arrival and departure of different population groups, especially after World War I and World War II. Heavily damaged during the bombings of World War II, Pula blossomed again in the second half of the 20th century and developed into the largest city in Istria, significant for its two main economic activities: industry, led by shipbuilding, and tourism.
