Motovun, Croatia 2016. #motovun #croatia

Motovun, Croatia, July 27 and 28, 2016. Filmed during the Motovun Film Festival, 2016. Motovun is a town built on a hill, elevated 277 meters above sea level, in the central part of the Mirna River valley. It flows through this landscape to about 10 meters above sea level. Motovun is the best preserved medieval fortress on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia. The Acropolis-shaped settlement developed on the top of a steep hill. In prehistoric times, Illyrian and Celtic tribes built their fortresses at the site of Motovun today. Its name is also of Celtic origin, it originated from the word Montona, which means “a town in the mountains”. In its past Motovun shared the destiny of all Istrian settlements. The remains of a material culture from the middle of the Bronze age, about 1500 BC, were found on the plateau of Motovun Hill and testify to an estimated 3500 years of continuous life on this hill. During the Roman rule in Istria, which followed in 177 BC Motovun temporarily lost its original importance because in these relatively peaceful times there was no need for safe fortifications, but for places suitable for trade and traffic. The oldest preserved document in which the name of Motovun is mentioned are the conclusions of the Placitum of Riziano from 804, which are one of the most important documents of the medieval history of Istria. Among other things, the document shows how many taxes towns paid to Byzantium and what significance Motovun had as a town at that time. Thus we learn that Motovun and Labin shared the fourth and fifth place after Poretzh, Pula and Rovindzh with an annual tax amount of 30 gold coins, and on this basis their significance as one of the five most important fortresses in Istria. Rulers over Motovun continued to change for many centuries, until Venice won power in the second half of the 13 th century. In the following five centuries of the reign of the "queen of all seas", the most important cultural and historical monuments were created, and Motovun has begun to take over today's city form as an important strategic place for Venice. Motovun can be found on the oldest regional map of Istria made by Pietro Coppo from 1525. After the fall of Venice in 1797, Austria and Italy alternated in power over Motovun until at the end of the Second World War in 1945 it belonged to Yugoslavia and in 1991 as well as most of the Istrian peninsula, to the Republic of Croatia. With the separation from Pazin Municipality in 1993, Motovun once again became the seat of the municipality of the same name, which operated here until 1961. According to the 2021 census, there are 912 inhabitants in the territory of the municipality and 397 inhabitants in Motovun itself. #motovun #istra #croatia If you want to support and help my work, you can donate: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mariofabekovec PayPal: fabekovec.mario@gmail.com