The city of Vis is located on the island of the same name in the central Adriatic, one of Croatia’s most remote islands. The city’s history dates back to antiquity, with the earliest written sources indicating it was one of the first urban centers on the eastern Adriatic coast.
At the beginning of the 4th century BC, Greeks from Syracuse, led by Dionysius the Elder, arrived in the area of present-day Vis with the aim of finding a new stronghold in the Adriatic. They founded the colony of Issa, which they immediately fortified. After Dionysius’s death, Issa gradually became more independent, strengthening its economy and establishing trade and maritime connections with the rest of the Mediterranean.
After a long period of alliance with Rome, Issa sided with the defeated Pompey in the conflict between Rome and Pompey, losing its independence and becoming part of the Roman Empire until its decline. During this period, Issa maintained its status as a commercial, port, and cultural center, had its own laws, minted its own currency, and intensively built public and sacred structures.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the fall of Salona, little is known about life in the city between late antiquity and the 12th century. The city was gradually depopulated, the remaining small population turned to agriculture, and there are no significant architectural findings, thus the city declined in size, population, and importance.
The only mention of Issa is in the work Venetian Chronicle by John the Deacon, which refers to the year 996 and the Venetian campaign on the Croatian coast when Badovarije Bragadin arrived in Vis with six ships and took captives of both sexes to Venice. It is also mentioned in Constantine Porphyrogenitus’s work De Administrando Imperio, which mentions the island of Vis, along with the islands of Sušac and Lastovo, as not being under Pagan rule. Later sources about Vis only appear during the Renaissance when interest in antiquity grew, and writers and humanists visiting Vis described the remains of the already ruined Issa.
During the Middle Ages, Vis experienced a turbulent historical period of changing rule by kings and nobles who governed the Dalmatian islands, from Byzantium to Croatian dukes. From the 12th century, the island became part of the Hvar commune. Until the 16th century, the main settlement on the island was Velo Selo (today’s Poselje) with the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Our Lady of Velo Selo, after which the population migrated from the interior towards the coast.
In the modern era, the island was occupied longest by the Venetian Republic (1420-1797). During this period, the island developed intensively; sacred buildings in the city and across the entire island were built or upgraded, and Vis and Hvar nobles constructed lavish houses, summer residences, and towers on their estates between the 15th and 17th centuries. With the beginning of residential architecture development and an increase in population in the bay, the settlements of Kut and Luka began to form, whose eventual merger would create the city of Vis.
After the fall of Venice, the island came under Austrian rule, then French administration (1805), and was subsequently conquered by the English navy (1811). During the brief period of English rule, the city’s fortifications were strengthened with a system of fortresses and martello towers on key elevations, which allowed control over the entire harbor and the northern side of the island.
After the fall of Napoleon and the dissolution of the Illyrian Provinces, in 1815 the island was annexed to Austria, or rather, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which ruled until the end of the First World War. During this period, existing fortresses were upgraded, and the central defensive fortress Baterija was built in the center of Vis Bay. In 1866, the great Battle of Vis took place between Austria and Italy, in which Croats also participated. During the three days of battle and the unsuccessful capture of Vis harbor, thanks to the Baterija fortress, the Italians were defeated by the experienced Austrian Admiral Tegetthoff, and their navy retreated to Italy.
After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the island belonged to Italy until it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in 1921. During World War II, Vis was re-occupied by Italy in 1941, and after the Italian capitulation, the island was the only part of Yugoslavia not occupied by the Germans. In the post-war period, due to its strategic location, the island was transformed into a military zone; dozens of military facilities, bases, tunnels, and underground shelters were built, and it remained closed to foreigners until 1989. After the declaration of Croatian independence, the Yugoslav army withdrew from the island of Vis on May 30, 1992.
