sieben Kastelas

Since all the kaštels arose in the same period, they are architecturally similar as well. The inner courtyards typical of the Renaissance and the opulently decorated interiors are protected by strong walls and towers oriented northwards. From the towers people hoped to see the enemy army early enough to defend the castle or flee across the sea. That is why the builders' living quarters always lie on the southern side of the kaštels, in some cases even on small sea rocks with a boat jetty attached directly to them. Between defensive towers and residential wing, refugees from Trogir and Split built their houses and grew wine and olives here in return for the protection granted them.

The northernmost of the surviving kaštels was never conquered by the Turks, but since its construction in 1508 it has regularly had to yield to the forces of nature. The village of 2,000 souls is flooded again and again, and the inhabitants take it lightly. Some like to attribute the fact that nothing more serious ever happens to the protection of the three churches erected here in 1566, 1670 and 1765. A further monument of a quite special kind is one of the world's oldest olive trees: the circumference of its trunk measures over six metres, and its crown offers midday shade to whole busloads of tourists.

The nephew of the builder of Kaštel Stari, Pavao Antun Cipiko, no longer felt safe in 1543 either in his family's palace in Trogir or in his uncle's Kaštel Stari, and built a defensive tower of his own. The new kaštel is today home to over 4,000 people, who have vividly presented the exciting history of Kaštela in general and of this fortress in particular in a history museum in the castle tower. Near Kaštel Novi, on the site of a historic village that fell victim to the Turkish attacks, stands the church of Sveti Petar, built in the year 1775 on the ruins of an old place of worship.

The oldest of the kaštels was built as early as 1476 by Koriolan Cipiko, in wise anticipation of the political turbulence. He is regarded as the trailblazer and founding father of today's Kaštela. Yet not much has remained of the fame and wealth of the family that gave the town of Trogir one of its finest buildings: first Koriolan's wife lost her life in a castle fire, then in 1830 the entire family left the town, which today has 5,350 inhabitants. None of the Cipikos was ever seen again - and if one of them should after all know of his famous inheritance, he is keeping it to himself and letting the legends about the disappearance of a whole dynasty go on merrily spreading.

Contrary to the custom of naming the kaštels after their builders' family name, the name Lukšić goes back to the first name of a Vitturi from the fourteenth century. Lukši Vitturi was a man of such influence and charisma that all his descendants bore the designation "Lukšići" like a title of honour in memory of their ancestor - and named the kaštel after him as well. The story of Dobrila and Miljenko is also set here, lending the otherwise so romantic village of 4,200 inhabitants a somewhat morbid charm. Particularly worth seeing are the artfully laid-out Vitturi park inside the fortress walls and the 18th-century parish church outside them. In the church, the remains of Archbishop Arnerius are preserved in a filigree sarcophagus by the sculptor Dalmatinac.

This atypical kaštel does not consist of the residence of a wealthy lord and the dwellings of a few peasants to whom he granted the favour of being protected by his walls; rather, it was conceived from the outset as an association of several fortifications: first a pair of brothers erected two small kaštels; later, attracted by the good location, several rich businessmen moved nearby and likewise erected small kaštels. These can still be visited today in the Piskera district.

On a rock lying off the mainland, Benedictine nuns erected the most beautiful of all the kaštels in the year 1529 - Gomilica. The stone bridge by which you enter the fortress today is not authentic: in former times a wooden drawbridge was used here, since that offered the best protection against advancing enemies. Following the commandment of charity, the sisters allowed the peasants and fishermen of the surrounding area to build houses inside the fortification walls and to bring their lives and their meagre belongings to safety from the Turks. 31 houses that still stand today came into being in this way. But it was not only nuns and the inhabitants of the Dalmatian hinterland who spent time here: King Zvonimir too once rested under the 700-year-old oak in front of the church of Sveti Kuzma i Damjan - so at least the roughly 3,500 present-day inhabitants of Gomilica tell each other.

In the year 1488 the bishop of Split had a residence built for himself just ten kilometres from the boundary of "his" city. A prestige building like the bishop's palace in the village centre is sought in vain in the other kaštels, laid out purely for defensive purposes. In front of this building the district's almost 4,200 inhabitants still meet daily today, to drink a coffee in comfort, exchange the latest gossip and recover from their walks through the narrow lanes. At the weekend people visit one of the local churches and afterwards buy fresh vegetables at the market for Sunday dinner. No wonder that a bishop felt at ease here too!