Stari Grad - Island Hvar

The town is situated at the head of a long inlet (6 km) on the site of the old Greek Pharos and the later Roman Pharia. The Greek town covered an area of 1.28 hectares, i. e. a much smaller site than that of modern Stari Grad. An 11-metre section of the original Greek town walls can still be seen. Built of massive stone blocks by the dry-stone technique (see the analogous structure of Tor above Jelsa) it formed part of the northern perimetrical town wall. A section of the eastern wall can be seen behind St. John's church (Sveti Ivan). Stone blocks recovered from the ancient town walls were built into the foundations of the bell tower of the local parish church in the 18th c. An inscription in the bell tower says that the entrance into the Greek town from the sea was exactly on this spot (... DEDERUNT HUIUS PRIMORDIA MOLIS DE MOENIBUS URBIS RELIQUIAE ET QUA DEDERAT GRESSUM IN URBEM JANUA...). In one of the gardens, in the centre of the area once covered by the old town, there stands an old well which is locally called the Greek Well.

Roman remains can be seen primarily in front of the parish church. A Roman public bath stood once on the site of the church of St. Roch, as indicated by an inscription on the church stairs. The old-Christian baptismal immersion font, a deep basin (115 cm) in the shape of the cross dating from the 6th/7th century was discovered in 1957 but is now covered in for safety reasons. It stands by the church of St. John (Sv. Ivan), formerly St. Mary's, originally the seat of a bishop. The church is the island's oldest Christian sacral centre. The present appearance is partly Gothic, while the ground plan and the apse are Romanesque in style. The building was erected on the site of an ancient temple. Of the palace of the poet Lucić only some sections of the inner courtyard have survived. In the oldest parts of the town can be seen Romanesque and Gothic structures and many buildings from the 16th and 17th century.

The parish church of St. Stephen (Sveti Stjepan) was built in 1605 on the site of an earlier church of the same name. With its façade, small forecourt and bell tower the structure gives a highly harmonious impression. Inside the building a baptismal font from the old church dating from 1592. Apart from an attractive choir the church houses a lovely triptych by Francesco de Santacroce which is more beautiful than the paintings of the same master in the Franciscan church in the town of Hvar. The church of St. Nicholas on the road to the cemetery contains sculptures by Antonio Porri (Venetian art) and votive paintings contributed by local seamen. Adjoining the church there is a site where a woman ascetic was walled in alive according to her own wish (16th c.).

The Dominican Monastery, founded in 1482 and fortified in the 16th c., has towers at the corners and a campanile similar to that of the church of St. Krševan in Zadar. A new church was built in 1893, but its exaggerated dimensions have spoiled the harmony of the architectural group as a whole. In front of the main altar of the old church was the grave of Petar Hektorović, the great Croatian poet and builder of Tvrdalj.

Tvrdalj - the fortified summer residence of the poet Petar Hektorović. Most of the large structure (length of front 60 m) is still well preserved. In building this residence (1520-1569) the poet was as much under the influence of considerations of defence as of those of leisure for himself and his friends as was the custom of European renaissance society. He therefore put the following inscription above the entrance to the garden with the fishpond: PETRUS HECTOREUS MARINI FILIUS PROPRIO SUMPTU ET INDUSTRIA AD SUUM ET AMICORUM USUM CONSTRUXIT (Built by Petrus Hectoreus, son of Marinus, by his own wealth and diligence to serve himself and his friends). A special feature of the building are the many witty inscriptions in both Latin and Croatian. The latter are the oldest Croatian inscriptions to be found on the island. One of the wings of Tvrdalj houses the Ethnographical Collection. The Nautical Collection contains a library, the archives of the Stari Grad port authorities, portraits of famous Hvar sea captains, models of old sailing ships, old guns used in defence against pirates, etc. The Art Collection contains works of many prominent artists including Ivan Meštrović, Juraj Plančić, the contemporary painter Bartol Petrić of Stari Grad, etc.