Kraljevica (known as ''Porto Re'' in
Italian and literally translated as "King's cove" in
English) is a town in the
Kvarner region of
Croatia, located between
Rijeka
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
and
Crikvenica, approximately thirty kilometers from
Opatija and near the entrance to the bridge to the island of
Krk. The population of the settlement of Kraljevica itself is 2,857 with a total of 4,618 in the area of the Town of Kraljevica, which is part of
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County ( hr, Primorsko-goranska županija, ) is a county in western Croatia that includes the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northern Croatian Littoral, and the mountainous region of Gorski kotar. Its center is Rijeka. The ...
, and includes
Šmrika. The town is known for its
shipyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...
which has built a number of ships for the
Croatian navy.
History
Kraljevica is a town that was written about as early as the 13th century. Today, in addition to having the
oldest shipyard on the Adriatic,
Kraljevica's skyline is dominated by two medieval castles and a church of the Croatian nobles
Zrinski and
Frankopan
The House of Frankopan ( hr, Frankopani, Frankapani, it, Frangipani, hu, Frangepán, la, Frangepanus, Francopanus), was a Croatian noble family, whose members were among the great landowner magnates and high officers of the Kingdom of Croati ...
. Kraljevica's shipyard employed
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
, the former leader of
Yugoslavia, during the first half of the 20th century in his early years of organizing for the
Communist Party. After he became marshal of Yugoslavia following
World War II the shipyard took his name, until democratic changes in the 1990s. Kraljevica was the site of an Italian-run concentration camp during WW II.
Today Kraljevica is also a popular tourist destination on the Adriatic coast. The
Krk Bridge is located nearby, in the southeast part of the city.
Population
References
Cities and towns in Croatia
Populated places in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
{{PrimorjeGorskiKotar-geo-stub