Sibenik, 35000 inhabitants, is located on the Croatian (or Dalmatian) coast on a great bay studded with 242 islets known as the Kornati archipelago.

Its cathedral is a testimony of a troubled past.

This remarkable region’s coast is very much indented, with tiny ports sheltering a few fishermen’s boats.

Industrial activities of the territory include a big aluminum production facility, significant goods traffic and also a highly developed tourist trade.

But Sibenik is also for foreigners a most important historic place with a richness of very interesting vestiges and ancient buildings. It was successively conquered and ruled by Hungarians, Venetians, Byzantines and then some Croatian lords.

Coveted for a long time by the Turks, it was then occupied by the Austrians. Then the French took over for about eight years following the treaty of Presbourg. The Austro-Hungarians who succeeded the Napoleon troops ruled until 1918, at the end of which year the city fell under Italian rule and was finally united in 1921 with the Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian kingdom.

Then the 1939-1945 war brought back the Italian occupying forces, who were severely confronted with the resistance of Tito’s partisans, at the cost of major loss of life.

Tourism is a great resource for the city, with a predominant cultural life. The Cultural Centre’s multiple activities proposes arts and crafts, theater, the Children’s festival, radio, mobile cinema for children…

The sections of the Municipal Museum include archeology, submarine archeology, national revolution, history and culture, ethnography. On top of that the Municipal Library is a wide open gate to the population’s desire for culture.

And, last but not least, Sibenik is the true global childhood metropolis, with its yearly International Children Festival, hence a decidedly future oriented city.