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The seat of the county of Zadar and Knin, maritime, economic, cultural and tourist center. It consists of the old core on the small peninsula, and of the new parts near the coast. The town has developed industry (ship building, metallurgy, textile and food industry), three valuable museums (archaeological, ethnographic, and museum of natural history), the art gallery, one of the richest historical archive, scientific library, etc. The pleasant climate with rich Mediterranean vegetation attracts numerous tourists to Zadar. In the vicinity (Borik, Puntamika) there are numerous hotels and recreational objects. Zadar has traffic communication (the Adriatic Road) with Rijeka and Split, and the international airport in Zemunik. Zadar also has constant ship lines to the northern and southern Adriatic and Italy.
Zadar has already been mentioned in Greek sources, and Romans called it lader. It kept the urbane structure of the Roman castrum, and most of the buildings in town are reconstructed and Gothic period. The layout of the streets survived from the antiquity, as well as the parts of the water supply system from the lake Vrana, fourteen meters high pillar and excavations on Forum, parts of the emperor Trajan's triumphal arch, and many architectural fragments. Parts of the defense wall and pentagonal Bablja kula remained out of the medieval fortification. In the 14th century, in the harbor, the Venice built Kaštel, a fortress with a ditch. Later it was transformed into a cistern. Sammicheli's renaissance gate from 1543, the Sea Gate from 1565, arsenal (today the exhibition gallery), and most of the fortification and defense wall (8-16 meters wide), origin from the same period.
Especially interesting among the secular buildings are Sammicheli's late renaissance town loggia from 1555, the Fanfagna Palace, the Nassi Palace, the large palace of the former Regency Council, etc. The rotunda of St. Donat, from the beginning of the 9th century, is the most important Pre-Romanesque monument. It is 27 meters high with three apses and two naves. Because of the great acoustic quality that today this church is also used for concerts of the classic music. Two small churches from the Old Croatian period are still preserved: St. Peter the Old, a rare example of the church with two naves, and the church of St. Lovro with three naves.
One of the most beautiful churches in Croatia, the cathedral of St. Stošija, origins from the Romanesque period. It was built over the older Early Christian basilica, and later was enlarged (from the 9th century till 1324). The belfry has been built in the 15th and 19th centuries. The church has rich inventory. There is also valuable Benedictine monastery complex, with the church of St. Mary, reconstructed in the 11th century. The belfry, one of the oldest and most beautiful in Croatia was raised by the king Koloman in 1105. The famous collection "The Gold and Silver of Zadar and Nin" is kept in the church of St. Mary.
The Romanesque basilica of St. Krševan from 1175 is also preserved, and not far from the Forum is the Franciscan monastery with the renaissance cloister from the 16th century that is the oldest Gothic monument in Dalmatia. The church of St. Šimun, built in several styles, is especially interesting because of one of the most valuable works of the medieval Croatian goldsmiths - the grave of St. Šimun from the 13th century. It is the silver sarcophagus that weights 250 kilograms, ornamented with scenes from the life of the saint and from Croatian history.
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