As in the case of many other small towns in Istra, this peninsula on which I live, the history of Groznjan is pretty long and interesting.
The oldest archeological findings date from the 1st or 2nd century AD when the advancing Romans established a settlement on the hill that now hosts the picturesque, very tourism-oriented small town ...
... but in written sources, Groznjan was first mentioned quite a few centuries later ...
... in the year 1102 ...
... when Ulric II, then Margrave of Istra, and his wife Adelaida granted a piece of land to Patriarch of Aquileia.
Groznjan was mentioned as Castrum Grisiniana in that document.
It was a fortified town on the hill, built on the remains of the Roman fort.
This photograph was taken when I stopped at the side of the gravel road that leads to the top of the hill.
While standing there by the car, surrounded by olive orchards ...
... and vineyards ...
... I noticed a large zucchini plant spread across the vegetation by the road.
I don't know how it ended up here, but it didn't look purposely planted, that's for sure.
I spent some time exploring the big yellow flowers and inside one of them ...
... I found a small caterpillar that was feeding on pollen.
Grapes were recently harvested to be turned into wine, but I found a handful of remaining berries to eat after taking a couple of photographs.
In this enlargeable photograph, you can see the landscape behind the vineyard, and Groznjan on top of the hill.
After some more driving, I stopped again ...
... a bit closer to the top. I took a couple of shots and then continued the slow ascent along the gravel road.
This photograph was taken less than a minute later ...
... when I stopped again. After taking two more photographs, I was moving again.
But not for long ...
... because a hundred or a couple hundred meters further I noticed this structure ...
... with a pretty deep pool of water underneath the vaulted ceiling. It looks like an old cistern or something like that.
Haven+t found anything about it on the Internet, so if you wonder what is this exactly and when it was built, I don't have an answer.
The humid walls were covered with moss and algae, and spiders have built large funnel webs on those patches of green.
After leaving this fairly mysterious place ...
... and after some more driving, I reached the crest of the hill. In these four photographs, you can see what I saw from there. In the following shot ...
... I'm approaching the small chapel of the Holy Spirit just outside the town. It was built in 1589. Today is used only once a year for a procession that goes from this small chapel to the Parish church that I'll show you later in the post.
The chapel is closed to visitors, but I managed to get this shot of its interior through the glass of the door.
I took one last look at the small temple ...
... passed by the gate of the nearby cemetery ...
... and soon reached the first houses of Groznjan. This building definitely looks pretty old ...
... but, although I found plenty of shallow, generic information about the touristic value of this town, I haven't found anything that explains some fascinating architectural details like this circular thing behind the aforementioned building.
Here you can see the other side of that property.
This is the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian. In this case, I found enough information on the internet. The small church just outside the medieval city walls was built in 1554. In the following photograph ...
... you can see the first line of houses that form the compact center that was once completely encircled with defensive walls.
This is the main gate of the city, built in the 15th century. If you enlarge this enlargeable photograph you may notice two heraldic artworks, one on each side of the arch.
These are the emblems of the Venetian rectors of this area in the period from the 15th to the 16th century. Rectors were regional governors.
Groznjan became part of the Venetian Republic in 1358. It wasn't conquered with the army. After changing its feudal masters over a couple of centuries, one of them, Ulrich Von Raifenberg, sold it for 4000 ducats to pay his personal debts. Ducats were the golden coins in use in that period. This currency originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide international acceptance over the centuries.
The city was ruled by Venice until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797.
After photographing the terrace of the restaurant near the entrance to the city ...
... I passed through the gate ...
... and started my long and fruitful wandering through the narrow streets of Groznjan's center.
One of the things that set this town apart from other similar settlements in the central part of the peninsula ...
... is the number of art galleries per square meter or per capita.
The place is filled with colorful artsy stuff.
It all started in 1965 ...
... when the houses of the mostly abandoned old town ...
... started filling up with artists.
After World War II, after the exodus of most of the Italian population and the pretty catastrophic communist experiments with the agrarian reform, there wasn't much left in Groznjan besides empty old houses.
Until 1956, the area has lost more than two-thirds of its population, and only a couple of families lived in Groznjan.
During the mid-sixties, as Yugoslavia was leaving its hard-core communist projects and turning into the most liberal communist state of the era ...
... visual artist associations from the federal Republics of Croatia and Slovenia started organizing the repopulation of the abandoned old city.
The project got recognized and supported by the federal state ...
... and so in 1969 ...
... Groznjan got officially declared "The city of artists"
In the years that followed ...
... quite a few famous painters and musicians of Yugoslavia ...
... and some not-so-famous ones ...
... took residence here.
Frequent and regular concerts, exhibitions, and educational courses during springtime and summer attracted cultural tourism ...
... that revitalized the remote, rural area around Groznjan as well.
Art literally saved this place.
When I visited Groznjan on the 20th of October 2020 ...
... the amount of cool little details worth photographing ...
... was quite overhelming.
While rambling through the labyrinth of narrow streets, my attention got caught by a house with lovely blue elements on its facade.
When I came closer ...
... I found two stylized cats on one of the blue doors.
A bit further, a real cat was sleeping on the stairs.
Each little street led me to something memorable.
At the end of one of those shady streets, I came across a ruin of a house with a shopping cart surrounded by wild plants in its middle. Because of the town's artsy atmosphere, it was difficult to tell if this is simply garbage or some kind of artsy installation that has someting to say about consumerism and the state of the civilization in general. Fun fact - the nearest supermarket is at least thirty-forty kilometers from here.
At the end of another little street, I found dense vegetation as far as I could see.
These interesting ships ...
... were photographed on the square in front of the old town.
They were constructed with various more or less rusted pieces of old stuff ...
... and I like their steampunk aesthetics very much.
Not far from there, on the same square ...
... I saw a young cat ...
That was busy playing with something on the wall at the edge of the hill. When I came closer ...
... I saw that the cat is harassing a shield bug.
For a couple of minutes, I followed the scene with my camera ...
... and then ...
... continued exploring the streets and buildings of the center.
While walking towards the house with the blue flag on its facade ...
... I noticed a colorful little goat on the window sill.
This old motorcycle was photographed in the same area.
Not far from the motorcycle there was a rusted bicycle followed by something that looked like barbeque equipment on wheels.
After taking these three shots of a friend with the old motorbike ...
... I continued rambling around.
Another street ...
... led me to this art & souvenirs gallery ...
... that looked a bit like a tavern with sardines getting grilled on the barbecue at its entrance.
I came across many funny little illusions that day.
After photographing this red bicycle at the entrance of another gallery ...
... and some more aimless walking ...
... quite unexpectedly, I found the biggest church in town.
The Parish church of St. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia was first built in 1310 and named The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was changed and upgraded quite a few times through the centuries. Its current baroque appearance dates from 1770.
These lanterns were photographed on the small square in front of the church.
Some minutes later, I took this shot in the narrow dead-end street.
Not far from there I came across another rugged steampunk ship ...
... and then, after the ship ...
... I encountered another bicycle.
Here you can see the advertising artwork ...
... for the tavern called Bastia.
In the street behind the tavern, I took this paparazzi shot with a glimpse of local everyday life in Groznjan.
A bit later ...
... I walked another narrow street ...
... that ended with the closed gallery that goes by the name of "Galery Z" ...
... and the large terrace with a great scenic view of surrounding hills and valleys. From here ...
... I zoomed on some village on the nearest hill ...
... and on Motovun, the distant town on the hill across the large valley.
Back in the center, surrounded by buildings ...
... I photographed these lovely succulent plants in front of one of the old houses ...
... and the town's loggia from the 16th century situated near the main gate.
Soon I was on the other side of the city wall, where I photographed this old equipment that looks like some kind of mill. Probably it has something to do with turning the olives into olive oil, one of the most requested products from this area.
On my walk back to the car ...
... I stopped to visit the cemetery.
I took only a couple of shots there.
Photographed the beautiful trunks of the old cypresses ...
... and a detail from the tallest headstone that looked more like a small temple.
Took this wider shot with many smaller tombs and the Parish church in the background, and then ...
... sat in my car and drove away. The sun was rapidly going down, the night was almost there, and I had to drive little less than a hundred kilometers.
AND THAT'S IT. AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END.
In these two post-credits photographs taken by a friend who was there with me, you can see me shooting around the old town.
