Dvigrad

There are not many such beautiful and exciting dead towns located so near an urban area like Dvigrad in Istria. It was not destroyed by some military power, or devoured by fire; it was rather abandoned by its inhabitants to undergo its solitary death. Dvigrad is situated in Draga - a deep valley that stretches from Pazin to the sea, ending in a sea chanel - Lim. Dvigrad - as its name implies - consists of two towns. Today, only one town can be seen on the norhtern side of the valley, and it is in ruins. About the year 1630 the town was completely deserted. When the church of St. Sophia got abandoned in 1714, the town was left to its inexorable fate. We can enter Dvigrad through the city gate which has remained intact, and we reach the lower town which was protected by the first ring of the city wall. Following the way that Dvegrajci (as the inhabitants of Dvigrad are called in the Istrian memoirs) used to take for centuries, we arrive at the second gate, built in the second ring of the city wall. That's how the town was actually entered: from one gate to the another. We follow the way up to the third and the last gate, passing by an enormous guard tower situated in the southern part of town. Throught this gate we finally reach the centre of Dvigrad. On this highest position, as on a living rock, the early Christian church of St. Sophia was erected. It dominated the town due to its height, width and beauty. It had three naves, and in its centre, leaning against the pillars of the middle nave, a pulpit was constructed in the 13th and 14th centuries. The pulpit’s brim was decorated by beautiful reliefs. The most remarkable of them is the relief depicting St. Sophia holding one town in each hand. This is the symbol of Dvigrad. At the beginning of the 19th century the basilica collapsed, the roof fell in, and from that time on, this magnificent building has completely deteriorated. At the end, the question remains how much longer this deceased town will bear witness to the time, how much longer it will take before it has completely perished. Photos:

Dvigrad