VIS
crystal clear sea and marine scenery

Vis, an important stronghold of the antique period, where different cultures followed one another, is today a picturesque town offering a mixture of a modern seaside resort and the centuries-old past. Nice sandy and pebble beaches (Parja, Rogacic, Mala and Vela Svitnja, etc.) are situated near the town. Walking along the coast from Luka to Kut or driving through the interior to Komiza, with vineyards by the road (wine cellar in Podspilje) represent a real enjoyment.

Good quality accommodation in hotels or apartments, unpolluted environment with the crystal clear sea and marine scenery as well as the local specialities - seafood from the cleanest part of the Adriatic, various sports and recreation opportunities, they all constitute the offer of Vis, an island which emerged from a long period of isolation (tourists from abroad have been allowed to visit the island since 1989).

Music and other events are organized during the summer season.

Vis, a town and port in the eastern part of the northern coast of the island of Vis; popu-lation 1,932. Chief occupations are farming, wine production, fishing and tourism. The town of Vis is situated on the regional road. Ferry port, with ferry connections to Split.

The ruins of the fortified town (the walls reaching up to 10 m) are located on the southern slope of Gradina the necropolises Martvilo and Vlaska Njiva are on the western and eastern sides. The remains of a Roman theatre have been excavated on the Pirova peninsula (a Franciscan monastery was later erected on the same location). The square (agora - forum) used to be by the sea to the east, and monumental thermae used to stand on the western end. Issa was the first ancient town on the Croatian coast constructed following a regular urban pattern. There are many valuable finds: the inscription by the hero Calius from the 4th century BC (the oldest verse found in Croatia), a bronze head of Aphrodite or Artemis from the Praxitelean circle, collections of vases (south Italian red figural ornamentation, Gnathia, vases of local origin).

The present settlement developed when two -smaller villages, Luka and Kut, merged. The most representative buildings of the 16th and the 17th centuries are the Gariboldi Palace, with an inscription dating from 1552, the summer villa of the Croatian poet Marin Gazarovic from the first half of the 17th century, the houses Jaksa and Vukasinovic-Dojmi. The parish church of Our Lady of Spilica was erected around 1500; it keeps a painting representing Our Lady with Saints, a work by Girolamo da Santacroce. Kut has the church of St. Cyprian from the 16th century, reconstructed in 1742 in Baroque style. The church has a wooden Baroque pulpit with rich ornamentation and the coffered ceiling decorated with paintings. The church of the Holy Spirit from the 17th century lies in Luka. After the French defeat in 1811, Vis was occupied by the English who fortified it with several citadels (today only ruins).