Trogir is a town in Split-Dalmatia County, located 25 kilometers west of Split at the northwestern end of the Bay of Kaštela, with 12,393 inhabitants according to the 2021 census. Its historic core sits on a small islet between the mainland and the island of Čiovo, connected to both sides by stone bridges, and has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1997. The town was founded in the 3rd century BC by Greek colonists, traders from the island of Vis (Issa), and the Roman writer Pliny the Elder mentions it under the name Tragurium, noting its renown for the stone still quarried today on the slopes of St. Elias hill. Trogir is counted among the most completely preserved Romanesque-Gothic towns in Central Europe.
The town’s most significant cultural monument is the Cathedral of St. Lawrence, whose western portal was created by Master Radovan, one of the most prominent medieval sculptors and builders. Completed in 1240, the portal is exceptionally rich in figurative scenes from the life of Christ, with a lunette depicting the Annunciation. Alongside the cathedral stand the Kamerlengo tower and a series of palaces dating from the Romanesque to the Renaissance periods, such as the Cipiko and Garagnin-Fanfogna palaces. Under Venetian rule, which lasted from 1420 until 1797, the largest fortifications were built – the Kamerlengo castle and St. Mark’s Tower. The 13th-century town loggia on St. John Paul II Square was the center of public and judicial life, preserving a relief of Justice with the Venetian lion by the workshop of Nicholas of Florence, as well as a relief of Ban Petar Berislavić on horseback by Ivan Meštrović.
Trogir also holds a place in European history through its civilizational milestones: in 1271, the first pharmacy in Europe opened here, near the cathedral and town loggia. The town’s core has remained almost unchanged in size since the 12th century, when it had around 3,000 inhabitants. In modern times, Trogir is recognized for its developed nautical tourism, with the ACI Marina Trogir on Čiovo able to accommodate up to 500 vessels, and the Brodotrogir shipyard – drawing on a two-thousand-year shipbuilding tradition – ranking among the five largest in Croatia. The cultivation of mandarins and olives remains a traditional economic activity, while tuna-farming cages off the islands of Drvenik Veli and Drvenik Mali are among the examples of aquaculture in Split-Dalmatia County.
