ISTRAKON 2012
23 - 25 March, Pazin - Croatia

The history of Pazin goes back to before the first document known to mention it – emperor Oton the Second’s deed of donation from 983. At the end of the 12th century the Castle of Pazin became the seat of the Counts of Gorizia Istrian estates. From 1379, their lands became known as the County of Pazin. After the Counts of Gorizia died out, the County passed into the hands of the Habsburgs. In the middle ages and during the modern era it played an important role in the historical events in the Austro-Venetian Istria. In recent history, Pazin was the administrative centre of the Istrian District (1825 – 1860) and the town where the first Croatian language gymnasium was founded (1899). In September of 1943 the Decision for the Annexation of Istria to the Motherland of Croatia was brought in Pazin. Since 1993, Pazin has been the seat of the Istrian County.

The history of Pazin is indivisible from the history of Istria, moreover, certain events related to Pazin played a significant role in the shaping of of Istrian history on the whole. The time of origin of the town is not certain due to a lack of credible material evidence. The earliest written traces of Pazin have been kept in the royal deeds of donation from the 10th century. These documents actually mention the fort (Castrum Pisinum) erected on the edge of the Pazin Pit, that would later be the centre of a settlement.

Pazin was one of the hinterland possessions of the Poreč bishops, with the Castle as an important factor in their defense. In the 13th and 14th century the Castle was also central to the Istrian lands of the Counts of  Gorizia, later in Habsburg ownership. At the beginning of the Habsburg rule over the lands, which were called the County of Pazin in 1379, the development achieved under the Gorizian rule was crucial. Forming the County in the Istrian interior happened in tandem with the Venetians taking the coastal towns which caused a division that would last for five centuries. The split was characterized by frequent border skirmishes, even larger scale wars where the rural population took the most damage.

As the most important fort facing the Venecians, the Castle of Pazin was under siege and a place of battle several times. Chroniclers noted arson in Pazin and the nearby villages, raids complemented by cattle and crop destruction and other misdeeds. All that made the Castle of Pazin, together with the other forts (Beram, Trviž, Grdoselo, Gračišće, Žminj, Tinjan, etc.) centre of attention. The fortifications were continually maintained and improved, weapons and soldiers were taken care of and so on. Land census records regulated the obligations of the subordinated who were uprising because of the taxes imposed on them.

The Venetian army besieged Pazin a couple of times, but succeeded in taking it only once. That happened in 1508 when the entire County was conquered in barely five days. The Castle, which had been cannoned from the surrounding hills, was taken and raided too. In spring of the following year, the Habsburgs retrieved their lost territories, while the Venetians’ new attempt to recapture Pazin failed. The Castle withstood all attacks because it was well defended and well armed, thus turning the attackers to raid the nearest villages and retreat to Motovun. Due to unsolved border issues the area of Pazin remained a bone of contention even after the peace treaty in Worms (1523) and the delimitation in Trento (1535). The strife of war was joined with a plague epidemic (1516),  the threat of Turkish invasion and a great fire in 1584 when 180 houses in Pazin burned down!

Plague epidemics were also registered at the beginning of the following century (1615) with the outburst of another great Austro-Venetian war. In 1616 Old Pazin took some damage and in July 1617 the Venetian commander Alvise Zorzi undertook another assault on Pazin. The walls of the castle withstood the attacks of Zorzi’s mercenaries who then ravaged the Pićan villages. The war went on until 1619, two years after the peace treaty in Madrid, making it the last armed conflict in almost two centuries to come. The role of Venice in Istrian affairs subsided as well as its power, until the final breakdown in 1797. The Republic fell under the surge of Napoleon’s army which occupied Istria shortly after. The French stayed in Istria until 1813, when they faced the scarce army of captain Josip Lazarić. Some of the crucial battles took place in the vicinity of Pazin, around Lindar and Beram. To honor Lazarić’s victory, a flag (known as Lazarić’s flag) was sent to Pazin from Vienna in 1813 as a gift from the Empire to the people of Istria. A monument made of cannon balls thrown into the Pit by the French soldiers upon retreat was mounted in 1816. The monument was placed in front of the Franciscan monastery church and it was revealed in the presence of the emperor Franz the First himself.

After the French administration was abolished, Austria became master of the whole Istria which was turned into a unified administrative entity in 1825, the so called District of Istria, with its seat in Pazin. The District was managed by the District Head F. F. von Grimschitz with the help of the bureaucracy (commissars, doctors and surgeons, engineers, secretaries, draftsmen, protocol clerks, registrants, scribes and a few emissaries). Offices had to be secured for all that personnel, so it was decided that a new building be built for that purpose. However, they never moved in because another administrative reorganization followed. Istria became a Province with a Council which sat in Poreč until the beginning of World War I.

Almost a century and a half later, Pazin renewed its status of the administrative centre of Istria, that is of the newly formed County of Istria. In the meantime, many important events unfolded in the town and its vicinity, from events connected to the Croatian National Revival in the second half of the 19th century and the opening of the first Croatian language gymnasium, to the  Decision of the Annexation of Istria to the Motherland of Croatia in September 1943.

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