http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/ en info@wmd.hr Copyright 2008 2008-02-13T11:46:00+01:00 http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/king_pasoglav/ http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/king_pasoglav/#When:11:46:00Z ... King Pasoglav held court in Večka Tower, situated at the very tip of the cape of the Starigrad beach of Kulina… There are many legends connected to the old fortification called Večka Tower, situated on the cape of Kulina beach in Starigrad-Paklenica, and they can be heard even today from the town’s older residents: ‘He was a king with the head of a dog and a human body. He was shaved each time by a different young man who the king then had killed so as to protect his secret. One mother figured out a way of saving her only son from death when it was his turn to go to shave the king. She made some bread using her own breast milk and gave it to her son to offer the king. The king ate it all, and then the young man told him why it was so delicious. As they had now become brothers through the milk of the young man’s mother, the king decided to let the boy go, but he ordered him not to tell anyone the secret about his dog’s head. The young man kept the secret for a long time, but then one day he could refrain no longer. So, he decided to trust the secret to the ground. He dug a hole, bent over, and whispered: ‘Darkest earth, our king has a dog’s head’. Fate had it that an elder tree would grow from the ground and a shepherd made a flute from its wood. When he played his flute, instead of a tune, all that could be heard were the words: ‘Our king has a dog’s head!’ The secret spread like wildfire across the whole kingdom and the king was left to live unshaven and isolated until his death, while the young men from the kingdom were liberated from the fear of dying in the king’s tower.’ (Storyteller: Jurka Petričević (nee Trošelj), died aged 104) However, another legend has it that: ‘King Pasoglav imprisoned the son of Marija Terezija. She thought of a way to free him - she had her horse shoed back-to-front, so it appeared that she had left in the direction from which she had come. This tricked the posse of men the king had sent after her. Hence, Marija Terezija freed her son and then destroyed the Večka Tower by attacking it from Vinjerac.’ 2008-02-13T11:46:00+01:00 http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/starigrad_the_site_of_the_ancient_city_of_argyruntum/ http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/starigrad_the_site_of_the_ancient_city_of_argyruntum/#When:11:44:00Z ... that present day Starigrad is located at the site of the ancient city of Argyruntum… This is borne witness to by the work of Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, in which he includes Argyruntum in a list of ancient settlements at the foot of Velebit. It had oppidan status, meaning that it was a settlement whose inhabitants had gained Roman civil rights (oppida civium Romanorum). The city was situated on what was once a 3.5ha north-west facing peninsula, which is today connected to the mainland. During investigations carried out in 1908, epigraphic excerpts were found, testifying to the existence of city walls, based on which it is thought that Argyruntum gained the status of municipia during the rule of Emperor Tiberius (31-35AD). Unfortunately, the city has not been preserved, although the social structure and, above all, the aesthetic level of its inhabitants is borne out by the many archaeological artefacts that have been found – ceramic and glass dishes, bone, metal and amber jewellery, oil containers, weapons, etc. The collection of antique glass exhibited at the Zadar Archaeology Museum is of particular value. 2008-02-13T11:44:00+01:00 http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/films_about_winnetou/ http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/films_about_winnetou/#When:11:42:00Z ... that the area of Paklenica National Park, together with the surrounding localities (Mount Velebit, the Zrmanja River, the Krka and Plitvice Lakes National Parks, etc.), provides the setting for the legendary films about Winnetou… Namely, the films about the Indian chief Winnetou, based on the works by the German author Karl May, were shot in Croatia in the 1970s. Today, it is possible to visit the locations in the Velebit region (Tulove Grede), the canyon of the Zrmanja River, the Paklenica, Krka, Plitvička Lakes National Parks, etc. where the landscape is still untouched, the same as it was when Winnetou rode across these sites. From Starigrad, you can be taken to these locations on an organised tour as part of a photo jeep safari trip excursion. 2008-02-13T11:42:00+01:00 http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/velebit_a_biosphere_reserve/ http://starigrad-paklenica.com/interesting/velebit_a_biosphere_reserve/#When:11:39:00Z ... that UNESCO has included Mount Velebit as part of the international biosphere reserve! Namely, on 10th February 1978, Mt Velebit was included in a protection and scientific research programme for the benefit of mankind called ‘Man and the Biosphere’, carried out by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation. Mount Velebit’s distinctiveness, position, distribution and relief make it stand out from other mountains in Croatia, due to which it was included as part of this programme on the world list of natural phenomena. The international network of biosphere reserves includes protected inland and coastal areas that typically show the cohabitation of man and nature in time and space in different forms. ‘This network of legally protected examples of the world’s main ecosystems is dedicated to environmental protection and scientific research for the benefit of mankind.’ Source www.rivijera-paklenica.hr 2008-02-13T11:39:00+01:00