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Pula

Pula Culture & history

Throughout history, Pula has gone through many changes. Three thousand years ago, the Histri tribe built the first fort on the hill where the castle is located, but its history truly started after the arrival of the Romans. Pula has got some of its most interesting sites from this period. The old city centre is full of culturally and historically valuable sites, and you can find signs of its rich past almost everywhere. The extremely famous amphitheatre, or Arena, is the most attractive legacy from Roman times. As well, there are lots of interesting sites from Antique times – the Triumphal Arch of the Sergii, The Gate of Hercules and the Twin Gates, the Small Roman Theatre, Temple of Augustus... Nesactium is an important archaeological site found in the area surrounding Pula. Remains of Histri prehistoric buildings can be found there, as well as remains from Roman and early medieval times. The turbulent centuries have left their traces, and it is not easy to condense them into a few sentences. However, here we try to present some key historical moments that shaped Pula and its surroundings.

History

	5th century BC The earliest permanent settlement was recorded in this area, which was built by the Illyrian tribe of the Histri, the first settlers to live in Istria.
	1st century The Roman colonization of Pula occurred in the 1st century, when the city greatly developed and had 30,000 inhabitants. A large number of classical buildings were built, of which many have been preserved today.
	425 Pula became the centre of the diocese, which can be seen in the remains of various sacral buildings.
	The fall of the Western Roman Empire This historically important event gave Pula new rulers, first the Ostrogoths and after this the Byzantines, Franks and Venetians.
	7th century The Slavs moved to this area in the 7th century.
	After 788 After 788 Pula was governed by the Frankish kingdom under Charlemagne. Pula became the seat of the elected Counts of Istria until 1077.
	1148 The Venetians took over the city. In 1150, Pula pledged its allegiance to the Venetian Republic, and thus became Venetian property.
	1797 The Venetians were defeated by Napoleon and the town became a part of the Hapsburg monarchy.
	1805 The town was invaded by the French after they had defeated the Austrians. The city was a part of the French puppet Kingdom of Italy, and was then under direct control of the French Empire’s Illyrian provinces.
	1813 Pula and Istria were governed by the Austrian Empire (later the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and became a part of the Austrian Littoral Crown lands.
	1859 Pula’s natural harbour became the main Austrian naval base and a centre for shipbuilding. The city experienced an industrial transformation.
	1918 Pula and Istria became a part of Italy whose rule lasted until the end of the Second World War.
	1945 At the end of the Second World War, Pula was administered by the United Nations, and in 1947 it was united with the rest of Croatia within socialist Yugoslavia. It was then that the so called Istrian exodus occurred when the majority of ethnic Italians left the city, who up until then had made up most of the population.
	1991 After the fall of Yugoslavia, Pula and Istria became a part of the independent Republic of Croatia.

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Pula Culture & history

5th century BC

1st century

425

The fall of the Western Roman Empire

7th century

After 788

1148

1797

1805

1813

1859

1918

1945

1991