Krk (Italian Veglia, Latin Curicta) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka (Italian Fiume) in the Bay of Kvarner (Italian Quarnaro)
and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. Krk is the
second largest Adriatic
island, with an area of 405.22 km², and also the most populous one, with numerous
towns and villages totalling 16,402 (2001). Although recent student surveys pointed
that Cres (Italian Cherso) is the largest Croatian island, official data show that
Krk is the largest.
Krk is located rather near the mainland and has been connected to it via a 1,430
meter two-arch concrete bridge since 1980, one of the longest concrete bridges in
the world. Due to the proximity to
the city of Rijeka, Omišalj also hosts the Rijeka
International Airport as well as an oil refinery (related to the Rijeka port tanker
facilities). A monastery lies on the small island of Košljun in a bay off the coast of Krk. Krk is a popular tourist destination, because of the situation and proximity
to Slovenia, southern Germany, Austria, and northern Italy. Since the collapse of
the Eastern Bloc, many tourists have appeared from Hungary, Romania, and other former
Eastern Bloc countries.
The island has been inhabited since before 10th century BCE. The Romans called the
island Curicta. During the Roman Civil War, the Bay of Curicta was the scene of
sea combat between the fleets of Caesar and Pompey. Over a thousand years later,
the island was the center of the Vegliot dialect of the Dalmatian language. Krk
was also the seat of medieval bishops and important nobility, the Frankopans.