Novigrad, Istria

Novigrad occupies a small peninsula on the western Istrian coast, walled on the seaward side, with a compact core of stone lanes and a waterfront promenade. It was a bishop's seat from the eighth century, and the carved stone that accumulated from that period - screens, capitals, altar panels, mostly pre-Romanesque - is now shown in the Lapidarium, a modern glass and concrete building put up in 2006 specifically to house it, which won architectural attention for treating a small municipal collection seriously. The Gallerion museum in the town covers the Austro-Hungarian navy through ship models and archives.

History

An ancient town called Aemona stood in the area of today's Novigrad, and in the 5th and 6th centuries the place was known by the Greek name Neapolis, "new town". From the early Middle Ages until 1828 it was the seat of the Diocese of Novigrad, which is identified with the ancient see of Aemona. Venice ruled the town from 1270, giving it the Italian name Cittanova, until the Republic fell at the end of the 18th century (Wikipedia, Novigrad, Istria County).

Highlights

• A purpose-built lapidarium - pre-Romanesque carved stone in a 2006 building.
• A bishop's seat from the eighth century - the source of the collection.
• Walls on the seaward side - around a small peninsula core.
• The Gallerion naval museum - the Austro-Hungarian fleet in models.

When to go

May to September; museums reduce hours in winter. Half a day.

Practical notes

The town core is small and busy in July and August. The lapidarium is a single-subject collection and will not detain everyone. Parking outside the walls fills in season. Beaches here are concrete and rock, not sand.

Nearby

Porec and its basilica are south; Umag is north.

Key facts