Osor
Osor (Italian: Ossero) is a village and a small port on the Cres island in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia, population 60 (2011 census).[1]
Osor lies at a narrow channel that separates islands Cres and Lošinj. The channel was built in Roman times to make sailing possible. Now the islands are connected with a rotating bridge. Originally Cres and Lošinj were one island, Osor, before the channel was cut.
The first settlements of the area date in the prehistoric times. In Roman times, Osor, then called Apsoros, was an important center of trade on the route to the ports of Northern Adriatic. After the fall of Roman Empire, Osor became a part of Byzantine Empire and was a seat of archdiocese since the 6th century. In 840 it was burned down by Saracens,[2] in the 10th century, it came under Croatian rule. In The 14th century it was under the rule of the Republic of Venice, in the 19th under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and after first World World part of the Kingdom of Italy.
After World War II Osor-Ossero was a part of the Republic of Yugoslavia.
Today, Osor is a tourist-oriented town in the Republic of Croatia, with sculptures of Ivan Meštrović and others scattered around the center. Several camping sites are located in the surroundings.
References
- ↑ "Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2011 Census: Osor". Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012.
- ↑ The Italian Cities and the Arabs before 1095, Hilmar C. Krueger, A History of the Crusades: The First Hundred Years, Vol.I, ed. Kenneth Meyer Setton, Marshall W. Baldwin, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1955), 47.
Coordinates: 44°42′N 14°24′E / 44.700°N 14.400°E
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