Well, more precisely they are celebrating their 40th anniversary. This year the celebration was on Sunday, 13th of August, on island Murter where the National Park is headquartered.
In 1980 experts recognized Kornati as an extremely important area. Because of the priceless natural beauty, rich underwater flora and fauna and its cultural value, these 89 islands were proclaimed as a national park. The goal was to protect and preserve all formerly mentioned.
Sven Kulušić, a geographer, was one of the first people that pointed out to cherish Kornati:
“Kornati archipelago will be a priceless national value in contemporary tourism only if it remains the way it used to be: beautiful, intact and unspoiled image of history, a monument of human labour and a witness of a hard struggle to survive “ – those are his visionary words from half a century ago.
All the islands in Kornati National park are entirely private property. In 1885 local peasants bought island of Žut with 18 nearby islands and 11 years later they bought the remaining Kornati islands and islets from one Zadar nobleman who was the owner up to then. The islands were split in 14 parts between villages Murter, Betina, Zaglav and Sali. Majority of the land belongs to Murterini (people from Murter village).
In short, here are some facts about Kornati:
– there are traces of human presence on Kornati islands going back to 7000 years ago
– today there are approximately 18000 olive trees in Kornati
– there used to be around 10 000 sheeps, nowadays only 2000,
– there are hundreds of kilometres of stonewalls in Kornati: these long walls, called “međe”, intersect Kornati islands from one side indicating the boundaries between properties.
So, what are you waiting for, see you in Kornati!
