Cultural heritage
Croatian Glagolitic tradition is by all means the most distinctive segment of the history of the Croatian culture. When all other Slavic nations completely abandoned Glagolitic script, latest back in the 12th century, the Croatians carried this tradition through 19th i.e. 20th century, even though it was increasingly being pushed by the Latin script already at the beginning of the 16th century.
Glagolitic script appears in two shapes, as: round or Bulgarian and angular or Croatian. Glagolitic script is most probably an original work by Constantine the Philosopher, created in the 9th century, who was using Glagolitic script to translate church books into Old Slavic language.
In 1851, a young priest from Baška, Petar Dorčić, discovered a large stone slab written in Glagolitic signs on the floor of an early Romanic church of St. Lucia in Jurandvor near Baška. The text written on the slab intrigued the apprentices at the time. Baška Inscription became an important source of information on development of the Croatian Glagolitic script, Croatian language and culture. It confirmed the existence of the Croatian state from the earliest times, it mentions the name of the Croatian King Zvonimir and it marks the northern borders of his kingdom on the island of Krk.
In 1934, the slab was transferred to the Academy of Science and Arts in Zagreb where it is kept as the invaluable monument of the Croatian culture and literacy.
Its copy is located in the Church of St. Lucia, and the church and partly renovated monastery complex today attract a large number of visitors. In order to emphasize the significance of Baška Inscription, as the symbol of Croatian literacy, project titled "Baška's path of Glagolitic script" is successfully being implemented in Baška. So far, two sculptural workshops have been held, participated by young, still un-recognized students of art galleries from Croatia and other European countries. Thirty-two stone sculptures made from Krk stone, of which each carries one letter of the Glagolitic script, are placed along Baška's valley, starting from the belvedere on the hill Treskavac, to little church of St. Lucia in Jurandvor and to central stone in Baška.
With Baška's path of Glagolitic script, the primal natural vital energy of the magical Baška's valley has merged with the cradle of the Croatian culture and literacy - the Baška Inscription.
Folk autochthon construction
Specific autochthon construction was created in the midst of difficult life of islanders whose existence was once based on agriculture and sheep-raising. On poor, karsts land, in the middle of sharp rocky ground, people were working very hard for generations trying to steal pieces of cultivable land from karsts. In doing so, they were excavating stones from the ground and pilling those up, without connective tissue on dry ground, thus creating old construction technique of stone fence.
These strange, uneven walls, called dry stone walls by the folk, were used to fence the cultivable areas in order to protect the land from being washed away by the rain or to prevent the crops from being eaten by the animals. Dry stone walls were used to fence the pastures, and to mark the property borders.
The peculiarity of Krk landscapes lies in "mrgare", large areas for collecting sheep, fenced with dry stone walls in a shape of flower. These stone shapes, preserved especially on the karsts plateaus above Baška's valley, are a true decoration of Baška's hilly landscapes.
Welcome to Baška...
Baška is the best known tourist resort on the island of Krk, the Adriatic’s biggest island ( 40.578 ha).
Krk’s position in the northern part of the Croatian Adriatic makes it the closest island to Central Europe. Baška’s favourable location has ensured its continuous growth and prosperity, as well as a distinctive place on the tourist scene, making the town one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Adriatic.
The town is located in a gentle valley and in a bay surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and flowering broom, with a picturesque background of the rocky mountains of Velebit and the islet of Prvić, which seem to shelter its unique 1800 m long pebbly beach, justly said to be one of the loveliest in the Adriatic.