Kornati apartments

The Kornati archipelago consists of 140 islands, islets and cliffs, with 89 of them declared a National Park because of its natural beauty due to its numerous coves and crystal clear blue waters. It spreads over a surface of 220m2 and declared a national park in 1980 due to its unique shape and beauty. There are no permanent residents of the islands and most of the area belongs to the people of Murter island who come to tend the olive groves, the vineyards and orchards. They have cottages there, which nowdays mostly are offered as tourist accommodation units, specialized for robinson style holidays (self cattering houses with no electic power and running water).

From the 14th century the island of Kornat had several names: Insula Sancte Marie , Stomorin Otok, Tarac, Toreta (Tureta). In the 17th century the archipelago got the name Coronati . The Kornati Islands were populated as early as the Neolithic. In recent times there are no permanent habitations; the last of them was mentioned in the 18th century under the name Toreta. The Kornati Islands had long been owned by Zadar.

In the 16th century they were -under the Venetians, who subleased them to the families from Zadar. - The oldest archaeological finds on the island of Kornat are the remains of Illyrian settlements (Strazisce, Toreta) and stone grave-mounds. The remains from Roman times have been found on the hill Toreta; at the foot of the hill, on the southern side are the remains of an early Christian church with a semicircular apse. A smaller church, preserved until the present, was later constructed in it; the lower threshold of the church is a Roman votive inscription. On the very hill is a large quadrangular tower, built at the beginning of the Middle Ages. The remains of a mediaeval tower may also be seen on the islet of Panitula, and on the island of Jadra there is a church from the 16th century.

Kornati photo gallery