Most of the stone wall network is believed to have been erected during the 19th century, but both Baljenac and Kaprije served as safe havens for Christians during the Ottoman conquests of the 16th and 17th centuries, so some parts of the wall could be even older.Įver since aerial photos of Baljenac started spreading on the internet, the popularity of the island has grown considerably as has tourist presence in the area, and the Croatian government has requested that UNESCO include this island in its list of world heritage sites. The same type of walls are used on Kaprije and Zut, but Baljenac has by far the highest concentration by surface area. Interestingly, the uninhabited island has a surface of only 0.14 square kilometers but features 23 kilometers of walls created simply by piling rocks on top of each other.
Their hard work paid off, as the dry stone structures remain intact till this day.
They cleared the harsh vegetation on Baljenac and built the stone walls with their bare hands, all in order to have vineyards and groves where they could plant figs and other fruit. It’s an innovative technique used in other parts of Europe, like England or Ireland, but nowhere else do these walls imitate the pattern of a fingerprint as they do on Baljenac Island.īaljenac is right next to Šibenik’s Kaprije island, and the inhabitants of Kaprije used the island as sort of an agricultural area. In fact, the rocky terrain and strong winds aren’t exactly ideal for cultivation, so the inhabitants of the nearby island of Kaprije built these stone walls to separate their crops and offer them some protection.
You’d think it was an ancient labyrinth, if not for the fact that the walls are only about waist high and designed solely to make agriculture easier in an otherwise inhospitable place.
0 kommentar(er)
