An early panorama of Hvar Town in 1571. No nightclubs here…
Life in the 1570s in Hvar Town was not without danger, and the town was sacked by the Ottoman fleet in 1571 on the way to the decisive Battle of Lepanto off Greece on October 7, 1571 (a battle commemorated this year on Hvar with the traditional sailboat festival). Eight years later, much of the town was destroyed again when lightning struck the gunpowder room in the fortress, and many of today’s buildings date from the reconstruction of the lightning strike.
So how did Hvar Town look all those years ago? The ever faithful Old Postcards and Photographs of Hvar Town Facebook page has some clues, with this great addition to the archives, a 1571 panorama by G.F.Camotio.
Some interesting commentary from Total Hvar fan, Zdravko Podolski:
You can clearly see the bishop’s palace outside the walls on the right. The locals stiffed the Venetians and did not build the walls far enough out, so the bishop had to abandon the palace when the Turks came. Many years of correspondence about the progress or lack of it on the wallbuilding in Venetian archives.
