Baška Voda

Municipality in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia

Coat of arms

43°21′27″N 16°56′57″E / 43.35750°N 16.94917°E / 43.35750; 16.94917Country

CroatiaCountySplit-Dalmatia CountyArea

^[1]

• Municipality25.7 km² (9.9 sq mi) • Urban

9.9 km² (3.8 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

• Municipality2,590 • Density100/km² (260/sq mi) • Urban

1,766 • Urban density180/km² (460/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+1 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)Websiteopcinabaskavoda.hr

Baška Voda (pronounced [bâʃkaː vɔ̌da]) is a village and a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County.

It is located on the Adriatic coastline of Dalmatia, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northwest of Makarska.

Population

In the 2011 census, it had a total population of 2,775, in the following settlements:^[3]

Bast, population 126
Baška Voda, population 1,978
Krvavica, population 314
Promajna, population 357

In the same census, 96.2% of the population were Croats.^[4]

Climate

Baška Voda has very pleasant Mediterranean climate with many sunny days.

History

The name Baška Voda is mythological in origin and is linked with Biston,^[5] the patriarch of the Thracian Biston tribe, son of Ares, the Greek god of war, and the goddess Calliope, protectress of water. The military fort and springs near Baška Voda bear out this theory. Some of the richest archaeological sites that have yielded finds from Roman times are on the heights of Gradina and its surroundings.

These include burial sites with urns, lamps, jewellery, coins with the head of Alexander Severus Aurelianus and headstones bearing the names of 13 of the ancient inhabitants of Baška Voda, the loveliest of which commemorates a boy called Ursinus, who died in a shipwreck between 100 and 150 AD.

In ancient times, the little village of Bast nestled by a freshwater spring which supplied the Biokovo area. During the 18th century, after the expulsion of the Turks, its inhabitant left the slopes of St. Ilija's (Elijah's) Ridge and descended to the shore, where they established Baška Voda, today a well-known tourist resort on the Makarska Riviera.

Baška Voda first appeared on the “Coranelli” geographical map, produced in 1688, as “Basca”. It was a small village which thrived on agriculture and fishing. The Late Baroque church of St. Lovro (Laurence), built in 1750, probably occupies an Antique site, while the parish church of St. Nikola (Nicholas), the patron saint of travellers and sailors, was built in the early 20th century.

The town along with its surroundings appear in the video game Gran Turismo Sport as a fictional racetrack.^[6]

Image gallery

Beach
Baska voda sunset
Beach full of bathers

References

^ Register of spatial units of the State Geodetic Administration of the Republic of Croatia. Wikidata Q119585703.
^ "Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2021 Census". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in 2021. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. 2022.
^ "Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2011 Census: Baška Voda". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012.
^ "Population by Ethnicity, by Towns/Municipalities, 2011 Census: County of Split-Dalmatia". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012.
^ Šimunović 2013, pp. 160–161.
^ "The Cars and Tracks of Gran Turismo Sport". 5 October 2017.

Sources

Šimunović, Petar (March 2013). "Predantički toponimi u današnjoj (i povijesnoj) Hrvatskoj" [Pre-Roman placenames in present-day (and historical) Croatia] (PDF). Folia Onomastica Croatica (in Croatian) (22). Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts: 147–214. Retrieved 18 January 2016.