Welcome to Solin / Croatia

• The Croatian name Solin…
• Geographical location
• Tourism Association of the City of Solin
• Public institution in the culture Zvonimir Solin
• Cultural summer of Solin

The Croatian name Solin is derived from the Latin name Salon, which has its root in the Illyrian language. This name is mentioned in history for the first time in 119 BC, when the Illyrian and Roman wars were taking place. The beginning of this settlement is certainly much earlier. Ancient Greek geographer Strabon says that Salona was the port of the Illyrian tribe of Dalmatians, who probably traded with the Greek sailors . The remains of the ramparts, and objects of Greek origin found in and around Salona, point to the Greeks as the founders of this city. Some claim city was actually founded in IV century BC. It is obvious that the Greek influence was very early present in Salona, so it is rightful to say, that in the first period of Salona it was a Greek-Illyrian settlement. In the first century BC Salona was occupied by the Romans. In the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, the people of Salona supported Caesar; since he won, the city has been promoted to honor the colony, so it is officially called "Colonia Martia Julia Salona". The city expands east and west and acquired two new parts: in addition to the older Greco-Illyrian part, the newer Roman to the west and east. That is why the writers from that time mention the plural form for the name of the city - Salonae.

When Illyricum was governed as a Roman province, Salona became a true cultural, commercial, political, and for some time military center. In later centuries it was also the ecclesiastical center. Also in the first centuries after Christ, many easterners, including the heralds of the gospel, immigrated, who in the second half of III. century organized in Salona the Christian municipality. Three was many christian martyrs during the time of Diocletian.
The fact that Diocletian was born in or around Salona, and built a famed palace nearby, raised the reputation of this already important center.Evidence of this is the vast harbor and the numerous roads that connected it with other parts of the empire. The last three centuries of the ancient Salona have been characterized by the development of a strong Christian community in the city and its impact on the entire province. The Bishop of Salona became the metropolitan of the entire province of Dalmatia.It is also an era of gradual invasions by barbarian tribes,such as the Eastern Goths,who reached this area at the end of the 5th century.
While the Western Roman Empire fell under their attack, Salona, located relatively far from the main routes of their invasion, lived for another 130 years and at one point became a haven for some of the last Western Roman emperors. The city was destroyed by Avars and Slavs around 614 AD. The surviving population, who managed to escape, took refuge in the nearby islands and in Diocletian's Palace. This is where the life of the new city, today's Split, began.

To this day, ancient Solin has remained in ruins, only a part of ruins has been well explored and investigated, but this part which was explored, reveals enough of its size and significance. If we look at the floor plan of the city, we can see that its shape is rather irregular, and it looks like as an ellipse. The longest axis reaches about 1600 meters and the widest about 700 meters. The area surrounding the ramparts is 72 hectares. In the second century AD, During the Macromanic dangers, the newer part of the city, like the first core, was surrounded by walls and fortified towers. Since then, its walls reach about 4 kilometers and the number of towers reaches 90. In VI.century during the Byzantine-Gothic wars, some towers were reinforced, with triangular endings still visible today.

Solin is located near the river mouth of the Jadro River, 5 km northeast of Split. It consists of three separate units: the central part at the intersection of roads (Mitnica) towards Split, Trogir and Klis (residential-business part of Solin), from Majdan, in a small basin of the upper Jadar River, with a cement factory, and from the Lower Side (Saint Kaja). ), about 1.5 km west of the center, on the road to Trogir, with a cement factory and industrial plants. Between the Lower Side and the central part of Solin are the remains of the ancient Salona. It is on the main road (M11.03, E71) Split-Sinj.

Public institution in culture Zvonimir Solin was founded in 1991 as “Dom Zvonimir”. Today, it employs 15 staff involved in the preparation and organization of numerous cultural events, publishing and restoration of ancient ceramics, as well as the production of authentic souvenirs created on Salonitic or Old Croatian monumental grounds. The public institution in the culture Zvonimir is editing the monthly newspaper "Solinska kronika", and it should be mentioned that there is a rich publishing activity. In the gallery of this cultural institution, exhibitions of renowned visual artists are continuously organized, and also a dozen of plays with prominent Croatian actors, are played annually in a large hall (once a cinema). Public institution in the culture Zvonimir organizes numerous concerts and Solin cultural summer, which is the venue for the unique musical event in Croatia "Ethno Ambient Live".

Dear admirers of art and culture! There is a programme of 24th Solin Cultural Summer Festival in front of us that will once again lead you to the magical world of art. In collaboration with eminent croatian and world-class artists of various profiles and aestet-ics, we will turn Solin’s beautiful sum-mer atmosphere into center of artistic creation that will leave you breathless. Stages of Solin will become places where we will ask questions and give answers, which is, in fact, the whole puropse of art as a highest achieve-ment of human spirit. Our greatest wish is to bring you a programme that will have you relaxed and entertained in these hot summer nights as well as to inspire your deep thoughts about life and world. If we achieve even a bit of that, our pleasure will beimmeasurable.Tonći Ćićerić, director of Solin Summer Festival 2019.

Tourism Association of the City of Solin was founded March 20. 1998 in order to raise the quality of tourist and other complementary services to better valorize and present the rich ,monumental and natural heritage of City of Solin. The tasks of the Tourist association are also to encourage, coordinate and organize cultural and artistic events that contribute to the enrichment of the tourist offer of the City, therefore to support the maintenance of cultural and historical monuments and their inclusion in the tourist offer, and to develop awareness of the importance of economic, social and other effects of tourism , such as the need and importance of conservation and the improvement of all elements of the Solin tourism product, and in particular protection of the environment.
Tourism Association of the City of Solin is located in Kralja Zvonimira 69 Street,
contact phone : 210-048, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Internet: http://www.solin-info.com