Sinj

In August 1715 a garrison of about seven hundred defenders in Sinj held out against an Ottoman force many times its size, and the town has marked the anniversary ever since with the Alka: riders in eighteenth century dress gallop a course and drive a lance through a small iron ring suspended on a wire, scoring by which part of the ring they hit. It runs on the first Sunday of August with two rehearsal runs before it, is open only to men from Sinj and the surrounding Cetina district, and was inscribed on the UNESCO intangible heritage list in 2010. A purpose-built museum in the town covers the tournament and the siege.

History

Stone tools show people around Sinj in the Mesolithic, and caves hold traces of Neolithic settlement; from about 1000 BC the Illyrian Dalmatae lived between the Krka and the Cetina until Rome defeated them in wars that lasted from 156 BC to 9 AD. Two Roman sites lie close by: Aequum at Čitluk, probably founded by Augustus, where a statue of Hekate and a head of Heracles were found, now in the Franciscan monastery's collection, and Tilurium at Gardun, once home of the 7th legion, with a bridge over the Cetina. After 476 the region was Byzantine. The emperor Constantine VII named the county of Cetina among the Croatian lands in the 10th century, with its centre on the site of today's Sinj; from the mid-14th century the town took the name of its fortress, recorded as Fsini in 1341 and castrum Zyn in 1345. The Cetina was held almost independently by the Domald family from 1210, then by the Šubić and from the mid-14th century the Nelipić families, and after Ivaniš Nelipić died without sons in 1434 by the Frankopans and Talovac (Wikipedia, Sinj).

Highlights

• A tournament since 1715 - marking the defence against the Ottomans.
• Lance through a hanging ring - scored by the part of the ring struck.
• On the UNESCO list since 2010 - as intangible heritage.
• A museum of the Alka - purpose-built in the town.

When to go

The first Sunday in August, with rehearsals in the preceding days. Half a day.

Good to know

Seating at the Alka is limited, sold and booked well ahead; the town is full that weekend. Outside August the tournament is only in the museum. Sinj itself is a plain inland town.

Nearby

The Cetina spring is upstream; Klis fortress is on the road to Split.

Key facts