Otocac
Encyclopedia
Otočac is a town in Lika
, Croatia
. It lies in the northwestern part of Lika, in the Gacka
river valley. The population of the town is 4,354 as of 2001, with a total of 10,411 people within the municipality at large, the majority of whom are Croats
(91%).
and Mala Kapela
, at an elevation of 459m. The town lies to the southeast of Senj
, northwest of Gospić
and west of Plitvice.
There are two sections of the town, Upper and Lower Town.
. Croats in the vicinity of Otočac form two groups, those who speak Chakavian dialect
and Bunjevci
, who speak ikavian Shtokavian dialect
. Serbs form a majority in the villages of Gorići and Staro Selo. The town itself had population of 4,354.
Before the Croatian War of Independence
, the 1991 census lists the greater municipality of Otčac as having 24,992 inhabitants, with 16,355 Croats (65.44%) and 7,781 Serbs (31.13%).
. The text of the famous Baška Tablet
(around 1100) says that the church of St. Nicholas in Otočac was part of the order
community with the church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor
on the island of Krk
.
From 1300 on, it belonged to the estate of the Frankopan
family. Sigismund Frankopan (1461–1535) founded a diocese
there at the church of St. Nicholas and Jelena born Keglević
widow of Juraj Mikuličić, who was a member of the community of the Divine Holy Spirit
in Rome
, gave to the church three parcels of land.
The settlement
with a defence tower, at a bend in the river Gacka, was protected by a towered fort. After the fort's demolition in 1829, only parts remained preserved. To provide a safer defence, a Renaissance
-era castle
("Fortica") was built in 1619, with a triangular layout of cylindrical towers (these ruins stand above the town).
The Baroque
parish church of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1684 (restored in 1774), is a large one-nave
building with rounded sanctuary
; three side chapel
s are on each side of the nave. The bell tower
rises from the main front. The late baroque and classicist
furnishings of the church include seven altar
s, a pulpit
, baptismal font
and sepulchral
slabs from the 18th century.
From 1746, Otočac was the headquarters of a regiment
of the Military Frontier
(Croatian Vojna Krajina). A number of harmonious, simple, mostly two-story houses originate from this period.
Lika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. It lies in the northwestern part of Lika, in the Gacka
Gacka
Gacka is a river located in the Lika region in central Croatia. Because for a large part of its course it is a subterranean river, estimates on its length vary. The overground part has undergone substantial human intervention - before it was 32 kilometers long, now it is only 11 km...
river valley. The population of the town is 4,354 as of 2001, with a total of 10,411 people within the municipality at large, the majority of whom are Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
(91%).
Geography
Otočac is located in the western part of the karst field of Gacka, located between VelebitVelebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
and Mala Kapela
Mala Kapela
Mala Kapela is a mountain in Croatia, part of the Dinaric Alps. It stretches in the direction northwest-southeast, and it extends from the mountain pass called "Kapela" or "Vrh Kapele" that separates it from Velika Kapela, down to the mountain pass that connects Otočac and Plitvice and from then...
, at an elevation of 459m. The town lies to the southeast of Senj
Senj
Senj , German Zengg, Hungarian Zeng and Italian Segna) is the oldest town on the upper Adriatic, and it was founded in the time before the Romans some 3000 years ago on the hill Kuk. It was the center of the Illyrian tribe Iapydes. The current settlement is situated at the foot of the slopes Mala...
, northwest of Gospić
Gospic
Gospić is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj county. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field....
and west of Plitvice.
There are two sections of the town, Upper and Lower Town.
Demographics
According to 2001 census, the municipality had 10,411 inhabitants, of whom 91.29% were Croats and 6.63% were SerbsSerbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
. Croats in the vicinity of Otočac form two groups, those who speak Chakavian dialect
Chakavian dialect
Chakavian or Čakavian is a dialect of the Croatian language. The name stems from the word for "what?", which is "ča" in Čakavian...
and Bunjevci
Bunjevci
Bunjevci are a South Slavic community and ethnic group living mostly in the Bačka region of Serbia and southern Hungary...
, who speak ikavian Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian or Štokavian is the prestige dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language, and the basis of its Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin standards...
. Serbs form a majority in the villages of Gorići and Staro Selo. The town itself had population of 4,354.
Before the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
, the 1991 census lists the greater municipality of Otčac as having 24,992 inhabitants, with 16,355 Croats (65.44%) and 7,781 Serbs (31.13%).
History
Otočac was named after the early Croatian parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
. The text of the famous Baška Tablet
Baška tablet
Baška tablet is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian language, dating from the year 1100.The tablet was discovered by scholars in 1851 in the paving of the Romanesque church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor, near Baška, on the island of Krk...
(around 1100) says that the church of St. Nicholas in Otočac was part of the order
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
community with the church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor
Jurandvor
Jurandvor is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D102 highway....
on the island of Krk
Krk
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
.
From 1300 on, it belonged to the estate of the Frankopan
Frankopan
The Frankopans are a Croatian noble family. Also called Frankapan, Frangepán in Hungarian, and Frangipani in Italian.The Frankopan family is the leading princely Croatian aristocratic family which dates back to the 12th Century and even earlier to Roman times...
family. Sigismund Frankopan (1461–1535) founded a diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
there at the church of St. Nicholas and Jelena born Keglević
House of Keglević
The House of Keglević is a Croatian noble family originally from Dalmatia, their members were pointed out in public life, also as soldiers...
widow of Juraj Mikuličić, who was a member of the community of the Divine Holy Spirit
Cult of the Holy Spirit
The Cult of the Holy Spirit is a religious sub-culture, inspired by Christian millenarian mystics, associated with Azorean Catholic identity, consisting of iconography, architecture, and religious practices that have continued in many communities of the archipelago as well as the broader...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, gave to the church three parcels of land.
The settlement
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
with a defence tower, at a bend in the river Gacka, was protected by a towered fort. After the fort's demolition in 1829, only parts remained preserved. To provide a safer defence, a Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
-era castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
("Fortica") was built in 1619, with a triangular layout of cylindrical towers (these ruins stand above the town).
The Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
parish church of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1684 (restored in 1774), is a large one-nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
building with rounded sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
; three side chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
s are on each side of the nave. The bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
rises from the main front. The late baroque and classicist
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
furnishings of the church include seven altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
s, a pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
, baptismal font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
and sepulchral
Sepulchre
The rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel are a group of hundreds of rock-cut tombs constructed in Israel in ancient times. They were cut into the rock, sometimes with elaborate facades and multiple burial chambers. Some are free-standing, but most are caves. Each tomb typically belonged to a...
slabs from the 18th century.
From 1746, Otočac was the headquarters of a regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
of the Military Frontier
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier was a borderland of Habsburg Austria and later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire...
(Croatian Vojna Krajina). A number of harmonious, simple, mostly two-story houses originate from this period.
Towns and villages in the municipality
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Dabar, Lika-Senj County Dabar is a village in Croatia, 21 km northeast of Otočac and a part of the Town of Otočac municipality.- History :The ruins of a fortress called by the folk Sokolić rise on Vučjak hill; it has a square ground-plan and one cylindrical angle tower. First mentioned in 1499 as a fortress of the... |
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Ličko Lešće Ličko Lešće is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D50 highway.... |
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SINAC SINAC the National System of Conservation Areas, or in Spanish the , is the Costa Rican National Parks administrator, and is part of the Ministry of Environment and Energy or MINAE... |
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