Zlarin, Šibenik

Zlarin is the sole settlement on its namesake island, set beside a deeply indented bay on the island’s north-western shore. Its name first appears in a 1245 charter of King Béla IV as part of Šibenik. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the island’s economy rested on vineyards, olive groves, fishing, sailing transport and coral fishing. Zlarin’s coral divers were already renowned on the Adriatic in the 15th century, and in 1808 they received exclusive harvesting rights from Kvarner to the Bay of Kotor. A coral and sponge-fishing cooperative followed in 1931. The Croatian Coral Centre Zlarin opened on 2 June 2023 in the Kažerma and Šare houses. Its displays connect the coral-working craft with marine biodiversity and contemporary interpretation. Above the village stands the Baroque parish church of the Assumption, built in 1740 and restored in 1882. Outside the centre, the 15th-century Church of Our Lady of Rašelj, remodelled in 1714, preserves a 1456 Čakavian confraternity register.

Coral work is central to Zlarin’s identity, with the craft recorded on the island from at least the 15th century. In 1808, Zlarin divers received exclusive coral-harvesting rights from Kvarner to the Bay of Kotor. When coral prices fell in the late 19th century, the 1931 Coral and Sponge-Fishing Cooperative sought to sustain organised harvesting and processing. That heritage is now interpreted by the Croatian Coral Centre, opened in 2023 in the Kažerma and Šare houses. The village sits by the island’s north-western bay, while its name has been documented since 1245.