The Municipality of Klis, located in the Split-Dalmatia County, covers an area of 148.70 km² and has a population of around 5,000 inhabitants.
The municipality comprises 9 settlements: Broćanac, Brštanovo, Dugobabe, Klis, Konjsko, Korušce, Nisko, Prugovo, and Vučevica.
The historical development of Klis was primarily influenced by its geographical position, which played a crucial role in shaping life in the southern part of Croatia. Built on an almost inaccessible steep cliff at the pass between the Kozjak and Mosor mountain ranges, the Klis Fortress held a prominent defensive position throughout history. Since its origins in prehistoric times, it has monitored and defended the most important natural route connecting the inland with the central Dalmatian coast and vice versa.
Due to its strategic importance and the role it played in national history, the fortress was undoubtedly one of the most important fortifications on Croatian soil. Through its heroic resistance against the Ottomans, it outshone all others in glory. In addition to its famous fortress, Klis also includes seven smaller, scattered surrounding settlements: Brdo, Grlo, Kosa, Megdan, Ozrna, Rupotina, and Varoš—of which Varoš and Megdan are especially well-known for their long and tumultuous history.
As the center of the municipality, Klis also includes the hinterland villages of Broćanac, Brštanovo, Dugobabe, Konjsko, Korušce, Nisko, Prugovo, and Vučevica. The earliest traces of settlement in the Klis area date back to the Neolithic period, as evidenced by finds of impresso pottery in a cave in the Krčina area near the hamlet of Mihovilovići.
With the arrival of the Illyrians in the 2nd millennium BC, significant ethnic and cultural changes occurred along the entire eastern Adriatic coast, including this area. In later interactions with Greek colonists and Roman conquerors, Illyrian tribes—especially the Delmatae, who were present here from the 2nd century BC—built entire systems of hillforts on prominent mountain elevations to monitor all major surrounding routes and approaches. In the immediate vicinity, several Illyrian hillfort settlements existed, such as those on Orljak, Markezina greda, Greben, Ozrna, Žižina glavica above Rupotina, and the hillfort above the source of the Jadro River. It is very likely that the cliff on which the Klis Fortress stands was already fortified and inhabited at that time.
Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Klis, along with the rest of Dalmatia, shared the political fate of all Croatian lands within the newly formed state union of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
During the Second World War, the Klis Fortress once again became the site of fierce and bloody battles, as it was used as a stronghold by Italian and later German occupying forces in their fight against the local population. German troops remained stationed in Klis until the end of October 1944, when they were forced to retreat during the general withdrawal of their army from this liberated part of Dalmatia.
As was the case in the pre-war state structure, the people of Klis were also unable to fully realize their national and political freedoms in the newly established Yugoslavia.
After Croatia’s first multi-party elections in 1990, a year before the country declared independence, the Croatian flag was once again raised over the Klis Fortress.
Klis did not originate as a planned and constructed fortress, but rather developed spontaneously without a pre-established architectural or urban design. It evolved and changed over time in response to increasingly complex defensive needs and the advancement of military technology. Its architectural structures are layered one atop another as a logical sequence of its historical development.
Inheriting the site of a former prehistoric settlement on the rocky outcrop, Klis was built over a broad time span—from late antiquity to the early 19th century—undergoing a series of transformations: from a Roman fort, through an early Croatian medieval town, to a Turkish, then Venetian, and finally Austrian fortress.
The oldest Klis fort occupied the highest and steepest part of the rock where the fortress stands today. In later periods, it gradually expanded from east to west, enclosing other sections of the outcrop with defensive walls. Alongside the fortress at the top of the cliff, on its far western slope outside the walls of today’s fortress, there was also a prehistoric hillfort. In times of imminent war danger, inhabitants would retreat from there to the upper, more secure fortress on the cliff.
Evidence of this Iron Age hillfort includes remains of its dry-stone ramparts and fragments of Illyrian, Greek, and Roman pottery. When the Croats arrived, they likely found preserved walls of the Roman castrum at the top of the cliff, which they could use for defense.
Due to numerous wartime destructions and later reconstructions, traces of the Illyrian hillfort, the Roman castrum, and the early Croatian fort have almost completely disappeared. No fully preserved fortifications or structures from the medieval period remain within the fortress, as they were frequently demolished and rebuilt over the centuries.
TURETA ON KOZJAK
On the Kozjak pass above the hamlet of Odžići in Gornja Rupotina lie the remains of a tower that locals call Tureta. It was likely built, like the former fortress of St. Michael near Ozrna, during the pre-Ottoman period and served to protect the mountain pass and the route leading from the northwest toward the Klis Fortress.
Later, the Turks restored it and named it Kula Kozjak (Kozjak Tower), and it could accommodate around twenty soldiers. It had a circular layout and consisted of a ground floor and an upper floor, of which only part of the southern wall remains today. Since it is now in a significantly ruined state, it is difficult to determine its original height and appearance.
CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Near the center of Varoš rises the parish church of Klis, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Over its centuries-long existence, the church has undergone several changes in form, appearance, and even function. Due to a lack of historical and archaeological records, the exact time of the construction of the first church on this site cannot be determined.
PARISH HOUSE CHURCH SQUARE
Built in the first decades of the 19th century, the parish house, located on the western side of the church square, can be found on Klis maps from around 1830 and 1859. Based on these depictions, as well as existing renovation plans and preserved sections of the walls, we know that it was originally a stone single-story building with a rectangular floor plan, a gabled roof, and nearly half the width it has today.
CHURCH SQUARE
Built in the first decades of the 19th century, the parish house, located on the western side of the church square, is depicted on the Klis maps from around 1830 and 1859. Based on these depictions, as well as existing renovation plans and preserved sections of the walls, it is known that at that time it was a stone single-story building with a rectangular floor plan, a gabled roof, and nearly half the width it has today. Until the middle of its northern wall, it was supported by the elevated terrain, while its southern façade faced the main village road.
Later renovations expanded the parish house in its northern part, adding two larger rooms with a well on the ground floor. On the newly built upper floor, the parish priest’s apartment, the chaplain’s apartment, and the parish office were arranged. In the 20th century, several restorations of the parish house took place, during which the roof, façade, and interior were repaired.
On the elevated space between the church and the parish house, there is a small stone-paved square, which is ascended by wide stairs from the west side. The square is bordered on the north by a wall of the elevated terrain and on the south by a low wall. On this surrounding wall is the base of an ancient Roman column, and above it, a large stone cross with an inscription on the horizontal beam reading “Sveto Postanje 1893.”
Learn more about the history of the Municipality of Klis here.