Tvrdalj Castle

Tvrdalj is Stari Grad’s best-known building and the personal architectural project of Renaissance poet Petar Hektorović, author of Fishing and Fishermen’s Talk. Hektorović shaped it over decades as both a fortified home and a miniature world in which people, plants, birds and fish could coexist. Its central feature is a seawater fishpond beneath an arcade, with a dovecote above and an enclosed garden behind. Numerous inscriptions in Latin and Croatian are carved into the stone walls. Located directly within the historic town, Tvrdalj is especially compelling for the unusual way it combines literature, architecture, domestic life and the humanist ideas of the Renaissance.