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Statute | STATUTE of the City of Biograd na Moru

PREAMBULE

Biograd na Moru, in historical sources Belgrad, Alba Maris, Zara Vechia, was founded by the Croats in the proximity of the Roman Zadar.
It was first mentioned by the Byzantine Czar Constantine Porfirogenet among ten Croatian towns at around the year 950 A.D., and in the year 1000 it was called urbs by Ivan Djakon and its citizens were called urbes.
In the 10th century Biograd became all the more important in the political. Economic and cultural view and was often mentioned in documents. At the beginning of the 11th century it had already become the throne of the Croatian rulers and the center of the county of Sidraga, and very closely connected to the events in the early feudal Croatian state that was then at the peak of its power. King Petar Krešimir IV (1058 - 1074) is connected to the past of this town and he founded an diocese her, the Benedictine male monastery of St. John and the Benedictine convent of St. Thomas. He awarded the monasteries with rich gives such as land properties in the vicinity, royal freedom by which they were exempted from local authority, all taxes and givings.
After the loss of Croatian state independence in 1102, The first Croato-Hungarian king was crowned in Biograd, King Coloman. During the rule of the Arpadović dynasty (ruled for two hundred years) Biograd experienced very troubled times.
The continuous attempts of the Venetian Republic to rule the Adriatic coast and islands were the cause for many conflicts and devastation.
The most difficult days in the history of Biograd were experienced in 1125 when the Venetian doge Domenico Micheli seized the town and reduced it to rubble, then assigned the Biograd region politically and ecclesiastically to Zadar. The inhabitants of the ruined town moved to the nearby islands of Pašman and Ugljan, and some to Skradin and Šibenik. The Diocese was also moved to Skradin, and the monks from the monastery of St. John to the island of Pašman, on Mount Ćokovac where they built a monastery next to the existing church of. St. Cosmo and Damian, a monastery that played an important role in the past history of the region.. After these evnts, Biograd never reached its earlier importance and since then changed many rulers such as the Croato- Hungarian , Princes from Cetina, Vrana templars and Bribir princes. In 1409 Biograd and all of Dalmatia fell under Venetian rule until its downfall in 1797.
The Biograd region suffered from Turkish attacks for the Venetian-Turkish border was in its vicinity. After the Cyprus War the Venetian “provider” Alojzije Grimani reconstructed the ruined Biograd walls and the old citadel and Biograd thus became an important strategic stronghold of the Venetians in their battles against the Turks. Notwithstanding this the Bosnian Unatoč tome bosanski beglerbeg Ibrahim-paša conquered the town in 1646 and turned it into ashes. Not long after these events the Turks left the Dalmatian coast and life again started on the Biograd islands.

After the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, Biograd became, for a short time, a part of Austria , from 1806 to 1814 under French rule and then again the Hapsburg monarchy until 1918.
In 1822 Biograd became the center of the municipality bearing the same name, and in 1876 the center of the district court and other public administration bodies. At the time (the second Austrian government) a new municipal coat of arms was made according to the design from Š. Ljubića, which besides consisting of particular Croatian features contains the inscription "the coat of arms of the Biograd capital — insigna civitas albae maris"

With the fall of the Hapsburg monarchy, Biograd fell under Italian rule in 1919 and was annexed to the mother country on March 3, 1923.
Due to the alienation of Zadar (1920 Rapallo Treaty), Biograd became an important traffic, administrative and cultural center for the entire region of North Dalmatia..
All the events that took place in the region between the two world wars and after had their reflection on the Biograd region. Biograd contributed significantly in the antifascist conflict, particularly in the recent War for Independence where many lives were sacrificed for the freedom of the country and this town.
Biograd na Moru is today a cultural and economic center and a famous tourist resort with great perspectives for future development..
Material proof of the cultural and national wealth as well as the Croatian identità of this town are preserved in the Homeland Museum in Biograd na Moru, an institution that has been classified as B category according to international criteria, which means that according to historical documents it belong to European ranks.

Statute.pdf (108kb)

Issued on Monday, February 16, 2009