Rab Tourism Guide (2008), Chorwacja
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GRATIS
Turistička zajednica grada Raba
Rab
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Dear Reader,
We hope, in leafing through this
brochure, that you will also want to visit
Rab, this island which, surrounded by
an emerald sea, lies almost at the heart
of Europe. Beautiful beaches, pleasant
walks, superb cuisine and kind hosts are
the sure guarantee that you will enjoy a
pleasant, relaxing and fun holiday.
120 years of tourism
“For days they played host to me on
Rab, with their kindness, openness
wonderful food from the island’s fields,
fish and crabs from the surrounding sea
and strong and full-bodied wine from
their vineyards, and I remained on this
island much longer than my affairs had
required.” So writes Croatian Renaissance
poet, Juraj Baraković of Zadar, in the
prologue of his book about the Rab
shepherdess Draga. This took place at
the turn of the 16th century, but has
remained true to this day. The sea is just
as bountiful, the fields and vineyards just
as fertile, but first and foremost, there are the people of Rab, who take sincere
delight in every guest and receive him as they would a dear friend.
In 1889, Rab’s municipal council declared Rab a tourist destination and health
resort. This was a logical union of the island’s natural riches, mild climate and
welcoming hosts. Not long after this decision by the council, construction began
on the first boarding-houses and hotels, and boats carrying tourists began to
arrive in Rab Harbour. Thus the prediction of Austrian naturalist Camillo Morgan
came to pass. It was he who, admiring the bays of Rab and the colour of the
sea, which “in places becomes a veritable emerald”, foresaw a place for dazzling,
opulent Rab “among the most brilliant pearls in the Illyrian crown”.
Rab has, since time immemorial, offered even more to tourists than just emerald-
green sea, fish, crabs and red wine on the table in a friendly and homely
surrounding. Rab is an island of culture, and has been from Antique times to the
present day. With its beautiful scenery and long, pleasant walks, Rab is an island
which fills the visitor with a kind of quiet, secret happiness. The happy town of
Rab - Felix Arba, the Romans called it, and if anyone knew how to enjoy life
and how to name a town it was they.
Rab does not captivate with glitter, neon lights and grandeur. Rab
seduces, gently whispers its legends to us, sets before us the
contrasts of the sharp stone cliffs on its eastern shore and its gentle,
sandy beaches, its bare hilly massifs and the riches of the woods
of Kalifront. Softly and without great pomp, it reveals its beauties
to us, as though removing from them veil after veil of alienation, hurry,
forgetfulness and stress.
And so it has been for millennia, right up to the present day.
In view of all this, is it not quite natural that Rab constantly receives new tourism
awards, affirming it again and again as one of the best tourist destinations in the
Adriatic? The Croatian National Tourist Board awarded Rab the Plavi cvijet - the
Blue Flower - as the highest quality tourist destination. St. Christopher’s Square
was declared, not so long ago, the most beautiful square, and the “rapska torta”,
an exceptionally tasty cake which has been made on Rab for 800 years, was
pronounced the most original souvenir.
The European Association for Flowers and Landscape, supported by the
European Union, awarded Rab the Silver Flower of Europe award, for its well-
tended parks and woodlands.
FELIX ARBA
Welcome!
Your hosts, Rab Tourist Board.
HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE
The silhouette of four bell towers, on the high rocky outcropping of the peninsula, is a familiar
image of Rab - an image that has been linked to it for centuries. Apart from minor changes,
the silhouette has now stood fast for two millennia on the outcropping between the Bay of
St Euphemia (
Zaljev Sv. Eufemije
) and a small bay which does not have a name since it has
become the town harbour.
The town of Rab.
The town was originally raised by the Illyrian Liburni tribe, initially as a hill-fort surrounded by
a dry stone wall, The settlement, which was completely surrounded by thick black Holm oak
and Maritime Pine woods, was named
Arbe
(‘dark’ in the Illyrian language).
From that day to this, the town of Rab has stood as a jewel in the crown of the island, but
also as a centre from which culture, art and education have spread. The numerous churches,
not only in the town itself but all over the island, testify not only to the religious tradition,
but also to civilisational, cultural, artistic and architectural achievement. The monasteries,
churches, palaces, secular buildings, squares,
loggia
s - secular meeting points - courthouses
and marketplaces of Rab bear witness to a highly developed social environment. It should not
surprise us then that Rab brought forth Marc Antun de Dominis, one of the greatest minds of
16th-century Europe - a theologian, physicist, preacher and church reformer.
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When the Romans came to Rab in the second century before Christ, they encountered a well-
developed town. The greatest Roman emperor, Augustus Octavian, had walls and towers
built around the town to make it easier to defend. Even today, the remains of Rab’s walls and
fortifications stand on their foundations. The Romans named the town “happy” -
Felix Arba
.
This title was used to signify the prosperity, merits and significance of a
municipium
to Rome.
From the distant Roman rulers, through the rule of Byzantium, Venice and the Hungarian
and Croatian kings, Rab frequently changed its rulers, but the town never suffered any major
destruction. Perhaps the Roman epithet
Felix Arba
had something to do with that too.
The subtlety of Rab’s path through history is also reflected in its buildings and the simple
distribution of its streets, which are dominated by three parallel, longitudinal streets.
The oldest part of the town,
Kaldanac
, is very close to the cathedral, with its characteristic
façade built of the two-coloured Rab stone known as
breča
. In the Cathedral of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (
Katedrala Uznesenja Blažene Djevice Marije
), among
the numerous relics kept, is the head of St. Christopher, the patron saint of Rab. According
to legend, it was thanks to St. Christopher that Rab managed to repel the Norman invasion
in 1075. Thanks to his intercession the Norman arrows, fired from ships around the fortified
town, could not harm the town’s towers and walls. To this very day, on the anniversary of the
saint’s martyrdom, which the Church calls
Dies Natalis
, on 27th July, Rab’s most important
relic is borne out before believers and carried in procession.
Alongside the cathedral is the main Rab bell tower - an extravagant, 26 metre high Romanic
structure.
The old centre of town also contains the monastery of St. Anthony the Abbot (
Samostan Sv.
Antuna Opata
). Today the monastery is the home of nuns who are known specially for their
handicrafts, among which of special significance are the lace tablecloths made of thread
obtained from the Agave plant.
The oldest Rab bell tower stands alongside the Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew
(
Samostan Sv. Andrije
).
The church of St. Justine (
Crkva Sv. Justine
), built by the citizens of Rab themselves, today
houses a religious museum.
The Church of the Holy Cross (
Crkva Sv. Križa
), dating from the 13th century, is also known for
the famous Rab Musical Evenings, held there in summertime for more than 20 years, and was
built on the site of the intriguing remains of the church of St. John the Evangelist (
Crkva Sv.
Ivana Evangelista
).
The Romanic bell tower is the only fully preserved part of that church remaining today, and
the restored columns that form a deambulatory around the altar serve as an open-air stage
for cultural events.
The architectural wealth that the churches lend the old centre of Rab is further reinforced by
the numerous noblemen’s, merchants’ and later civil palaces.
The most striking Renaissance palace is the Dominis Nimira, built in the 15th century.
Together with its opulent Renaissance windows, the façade of the palace is adorned with the
coat-of-arms of the Dominis family, which produced the celebrated Marc Antun de Dominis.
The
Knežev dvor
(Prince’s Court) palace is dominated by a Gothic Renaissance tower and a
balcony with a Renaissance style balustrade. For a full eight centuries it has served the same
purpose, as a centre of municipal government, a valuable rarity even in Europe.
During its rule over Rab, the Serenissima (Venice) also built an impressive town
loggia
in
1509, as an open forum in which court proceedings were held, marriages were formalised,
trade was conducted and decisions were taken. Even today, the town
loggia
performs some
of these functions in the public life of Rab. At the same time as the
loggia
, the town clock was
built, whose mechanism still shows the correct time to the people of Rab and their guests.
Of special interest is the oldest preserved church on the island, the church of St. Peter (
Sv.
Petra
) in Supetarska Draga, built in 1059. This church is the best preserved Romanic structure
on the east coast of the Adriatic, and its bell tower still houses a bell cast in 1299!
The monastery of St. Euphemia (
Samostan Sv. Eufemije
), built by the Franciscans in the bay
of the same name, is a true jewel. In the monastery’s Charter, we find the first mention of the
Croatian name of the town, Rab. The monastery is a real treasure trove of artistic riches, and
it is the home of the island’s ethnological museum. On a hill above Barbat lie the ruins of the
church of St. Damian (
Crkva Sv. Damjana
) which apart from its religious function also served
a defensive purpose for the fortress. It is also thought that this is the location of a Byzantine
fortress from the sixth century (the time of Emperor Justinian).
The Romans named
the town “happy” - Felix
Arba.
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THE TOWN OF RAB
Among the series of beautiful sights that Rab offers us, the town of Rab itself stands out. There
is always something going on on the wide and spacious
riva
(waterfront), where passenger,
pleasure and fishing boats are moored. It is the town’s main promenade, a place of meetings
and journeys. The
riva
signifies a space in which to move, a connection with the world. The
town’s palaces and hotels that face it speak of the wealth of Rab, of tourism as the main
economic activity.
It is but a step from the hustle and bustle of the
riva
, to the security of the narrow town streets.
But they are also separated by a whole philosophy of life. Between those two opposing
points, you can find a wall to lean against, or a terrace where you can refresh yourself and
meet people. And whatever you decide, Rab will maintain its unobtrusive presence, revealing
itself to you and satisfying your desires, as though it were reading your thoughts.
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