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CRES
is the administrative and governing capital
and the only settlement on the island with the status of a city.
The main island road passes next to it, and it is well connected
with the mainland by permament ferry lines in Porozine
on Velika vrata and Merag on Srednja vrata. On the thousand year
old time-line of this ancient city, situated at the end of the Cres
bay in which one can sail between capes Kovacine and Krizice, many
events are written down. The prehistoric location of the settlement
was, probably, on the St. Bartul elevation. The antique writer Claudio
Ptolomeus mentions Cres
under the name Crepsa,
and Plinius the Elder under the name Crexi. The first Cres Statute
was printed in 1332. A significant turn in the city development
dynamic happens when in mid 15th century Cres (instead of Osor)
became the capital of the venetian goverment for the west Kvarner
islands. The Venetian Republic enhances the city defence system.
Considering the traditional maritime orientation of the population,
a nautical education school was opened in Cres.
The number of inhabitants of the Cres
cadastral municipality culminated in 1869. The fall of the number
of inhabitants after that followed because of the well known destiny
of sails-shipping, the appearance of philoxere that destroyed grape
wines and for other reasons. In the last hundred or so years the
minimum was registered in the 1953 register, when only 1.833 inhabitants
remained in the city after the Italian optation. The demographic
mass was slightly increased by the recent rise in tourism, that
leans to the attractions of the maritime-climatic complex and the
cultural-monumental inheritance. The nautical tourism is also developing,
because the marina in Cres offers 460 sea berths and around 200
spots on land. No other settlement within the west kvarner group
of islands has such a quantity of monumental inventory like Cres.
Out of its authentic medieval city core the elements of the fortification
system, representative palaces and sacral monuments - mostly from
the 15th and 16th century - stand out.
In the former defensive walls, three city gates are preserved (16th century) over which a winged Venetian lion is strutting. Over the gates, facing the port's aquatorium, there is a tower with the town clock on it. The well preserved cylindrical tower is situated in the north-western part of the city. In the old-city core there are also the Venetian lodge (15th-16th century), a building that once housed the fontics that held the corn reserves and other supplies (15th century) now renovated as a hotel, and city hall in whose atrium the permanent exhibition of stone statues is kept. Then there is the Arsan-Petris palace, built in the floral gothyc style (birth place of the renaisance philosopher Frane Petric) from the 16th century, housing a museum, and the gothyc Rodinis palace (15the century), now in ruins. The remains of the ancient-christian basilica (6th century) are excavated at the Lovreski locality. The gothyc-renaisance parish church of St. Marija the Snowy was erected in the 15th century and its isolated bell-tower in the 16th century. The church of St.Izidor (12th century), city's guardian, bares elements of romanic-gothyc architecture. Valuable artworks from the 15th century are kept in that church (sculpture of the church's patron and a gothyc poliptych). The gothyc St. Nikola's church (15th century), guardian of travellers, especially seamen, is simbolically situated near the shipyard in Cres and the local marina. The Franciscan friary with a church and the Benedictine convict in Cres need to be added to this list. The Franciscan friary draws the visitors' attention with its two claustres, carved choryc benches and church incunabules among which is the glagolitic Missal, printed in Senj in 1495, just some 50 years after Johannes Gutenberg, in 1440, made known his epochal invention of moving printing letters made of led. Cres is a city with a well planned tourist offer. Gastronomic speciallities, cultural manifestations and various sports activities are added to the natural and monumental attractions. Well known is the manifestation "Welcoming of the convoy of ancient ships" held in the beginning of July, symbolizing island sailing in the past and opening the main tourist season. The City = 2.234 Inhabitants Average Summer temperature is 28°C, Winter temperature is 7°C.
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