Ancient Roman couple stare out from their reused gravestone below a 15th century inscription recording the building in 1407 of a seafront bastion at Krk Town, Krk island, Croatia, by Nikola Frankopan, a member of the local ruling dynasty.
Krk Town, Krk island, Croatia: this ancient Roman couple have watched over visitors to Krk for more than 600 years - ever since 1407, when their gravestone was reused by Nikola Frankopan, a member of the powerful dynasty that ruled the island, to record the year in which he ordered a seafront hexagonal bastion to be built as part of the town's defences. The man and woman whose faces stare out from beneath the 15th century inscription were 1st century AD citizens of the Roman town of Curicum, which evolved into a municipality after the Romans defeated the Liburnians, the tribe that had occupied a lengthy coastal strip of what is now Croatia. Curicum has left many traces in modern Krk Town, including columns, inscribed tombstones, walls, a Temple of Venus, mosaics and the remains of a baths complex. The Frankopans, who claimed Italian aristocratic heritage, came to prominence after Dujam Frankopan defeated a force of pirates off Krk in 1133 and achieved local autonomy for the island under the overall control of Venice. His descendants played a leading role in the regional power struggle between the Venetian Republic and the kingdom of Hungary-Croatia. At Krk, they built and expanded the castle to defend the town against naval attacks and maintained their position as Croatia's leading feudal family until 1671, when the last of the Frankopan line was executed in Vienna.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Krk Town, Krk island, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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