2585 Travel Guide

Hvar Fortress (Fortica, also called Spanjola, 'the Spanish one') crowns the hill about 100 metres above Hvar Town, looking over the red roofs to the Pakleni Islands directly in front of the harbour, with Brac and Solta on the horizon on clear days - one of the finest vantage points in the Dalmatian islands, and it was never taken. The hill's defensive history is layered: an Illyrian hillfort of 1000-500 BC, a Byzantine fort in the 6th century whose south-facing walls can still be picked out, fortification begun in 1282 after Hvar placed itself under Venetian protection in 1278 and funded partly from the town's salt revenues, and Spanish engineers working the site in the 14th century, which gave the fort its name. The surviving Renaissance fortress was substantially finished by 1551; when the Ottomans attacked on 19 August 1571 the whole town sheltered inside and watched Hvar burn below, and at about half past three on 1 October 1579 lightning struck the gunpowder store, wrecking much of the fortress and damaging the town. It was properly rebuilt in the early 17th century under the Venetian prince Pietro Semitecolo, who added Baroque bastions, while 19th-century Austrian barracks and raised battlements give today's outline. Inside, four round bastions, a tower, the dungeon and the chapel of St John the Baptist are still legible, and a small museum holds amphorae recovered from wrecks in the surrounding waters. Admission is about EUR 10 and the walk from the main square takes 15-30 minutes up stepped lanes; the hour before sunset is the best time. Higher on the same slope at about 238 metres sits Fort Napoleon, built by the French in the early 19th century and home to the Hvar Observatory since 1972 - one climb, two layers of defensive history.