Bakar ( it, Buccari; hu, Szádrév) is a town in the

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. ...

in western

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of the population declared themselves

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic ...

by ethnicity. The largest ethnic minority are the

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of ...

with 2.91% of the population. The old part of Bakar is situated on a hill overlooking the

Bay of Bakar The Bay of Bakar is located on the Croatian Adriatic coast, within the Gulf of Kvarner. There are two towns centered on bay of Bakar: Bakar and Kraljevica. While Bakar and Kraljevica are port towns, in outback of bay of Bakar there are the industr ...

. is the Croatian word for "

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

". Bakar is a port for bulk cargo and used to be known for its industrial complex that included a coke factory, which produced a considerable amount of pollution. Bakar's coke factory was closed in 1995 and the area's pollution has subsided significantly.

Municipality

Demographics

Coat of arms

Bakar was granted its coat of arms and

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1799 by

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (german: Franz II.; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor (from 1792 to 1806) and the founder and Emperor of the Austrian Empire, from 1804 to 1835. He assumed the title of Emperor of Austria in response ...

. The coat of arms was in the artistic style typical for the period, with a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

with large landscapes and ornamentation around the shield within a circular inscription. The shield of the coat of arms features a red-and-white checkered top or "chief", with three local gray stone castles on green hills in the middle, and a black anchor on orange at the bottom.

Recognizable buildings

* Turkish house: built by an unknown architect, possibly in the 14th century, this peculiar building resembles Ottoman architecture. Following 1965 reconstruction the house served as an artistic atelier. * Roman house: former monastery, built in the 18th century * Parish church of St. Andrew the Apostle: originally built in the 12th century and destroyed in 1323 by earthquake. In the Middle Ages its catacombs were used for wealthy people to hide from plague that passed the city. It is the third largest late Baroque church in Croatia. * Kaštel (Castel): A castle built in the 16th century by the order of

Emperor Ferdinand I Ferdinand I ( es, Fernando I; 10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564.Milan Kruhek: Cetin, grad izbornog sabo ...

and used as a protection against the Turks. It has three kitchens, two dungeons, little chapel of St. Michael, and many other rooms.

History

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Bakar was a district capital in the

Modruš-Rijeka County The Modruš-Rijeka County ( hr, Modruško-riječka županija; hu, Modrus-Fiume vármegye) was a historic administrative subdivision ('' županija'') of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lan ...

of the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...

World War I

In February 1918 during WW I Gabriele D'Annunzio and Costanzo Ciano took part in a daring, if militarily irrelevant, naval raid on the harbour of Bakar (known in Italy as ''La beffa di Buccari'', lit. "The

Bakar Mockery The Bakar mockery (Italian ''Beffa di Buccari''), or Bakar raid, was a raid of the Italian Navy (''Regia Marina'') in the last year of World War I. Whilst it had little material effect on the war at sea, it was a particularly bold venture which h ...

"), helping to raise the spirits of the Italian public. After WWI, from the end of 1920, Bakar was one of the major points of entry of thousands of

Russian refugees The Russian diaspora is the global community of ethnic Russians. The Russian-speaking (''Russophone'') diaspora are the people for whom Russian language is the native language, regardless of whether they are ethnic Russians or not. History ...

, arriving in the Kingdom of SHS following the end of the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

in the European part of the former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

, mostly from

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

, after the final defeat of White armies under general Wrangel there in November 1920.

World War II

During WW II, in Bakar was an Italian concentration camp, where civil population from

Province of Ljubljana The Province of Ljubljana ( it, Provincia di Lubiana, sl, Ljubljanska pokrajina, german: Provinz Laibach) was the central-southern area of Slovenia. In 1941, it was annexed by Fascist Italy, and after 1943 occupied by Nazi Germany. Created on May ...

, as well as Croats and Serbs was interned. It the peak, there was 893 internees.Bakar concentration camp
Online Research project

Trivia

In 1972 director Radley Metzger filmed his movie ''

Score Score or scorer may refer to: *Test score, the result of an exam or test Business * Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio * Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company * Score Media, a former Canadian ...

'' in Bakar, Croatia.

References

External links

Bakar official Website

Bakar Tourist Board
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Croatia Populated coastal places in Croatia Populated places in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Modruš-Rijeka County