CULTURAL-HISTORICAL SIGHTS

The Old Town ...

...rises up on a peninsula and is a witness to times gone by and the valuable accomplishments of its past artisans. The limited space led to the construction of narrow buildings, streets and small town squares.
Of particular interest in this town centre are the characteristically designed chimneys. The town itself was declared a cultural monument in 1963.

The town walls and gates:

By the seventh century AD, Rovinj was already surrounded by town walls, and later strengthened by the construction of towers. The old town had seven gates, while three still exist today: the Saint Benedict Gate, the Portico and the Holy Cross Gate. A baroque archway called "Balbijev luk", which today serves as the entrance into the old town, was built on the site of the former outer gate in the seventeenth century.

The church of Saint Euphemia

is a most imposing structure which bears the name of the patron saint of the town. It dominates the whole old town centre. It was built in the eighteenth century, while its façade in Venetian-baroque style was added in the middle of the last century. At the top of the sixty-metre-high bell tower stands the copper statue of St. Euphemia, which shows the direction of the wind by turning on a spindle.

The baptismal font of the Holy Spirit ...

...has been constructed in a heptagonal shape and is the oldest relic situated in the Lokva Square. The thirteenth century Romanesque church which houses the font is also interesting because of the detailed carvings of the transenna depicting scenes of Golgotha.

The Franciscan Monastery ...

...and church were built at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This interesting building built entirely in the Baroque style, contains a rich library and a fascinating museum of sacral artifacts. It is situated in De Amicis street.

The castle on the island of St. Andrija

was originally a Benedictine Monastery established in the sixth century AD. In the fifteenth century the Franciscan order added extensions and it was again refurbished at the end of the nineteenth century by Baron Hutterodt. The castle has now been converterd into a hotel.

Dvigrad

Dvigrad is a medieval town abandoned in the seventeenth century, and only its ruins remain, of which the most impressive are those of the church of St. Sofia. Dvigrad is 23 kilometres from Rovinj.

Of the numerous town churches and chapels built from the Byzantine to the Baroque era, some of the more noteworthy include the church of St. Agatha, the church of the Holy Cross, the church of St. Benedict, Oratorio, the Blessed Virgin Mother.