Lošinj: Difference between revisions

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The Cres-Losinj group of islands, apart from the main islands, Cres and Losinj, includes smaller islands as well: Unije, Ilovik, Susak, Vele Srakane, Male Srakane and a number of unhabitated small islands.

Cunski, a small sunlit village sheltered from the bura, is located on the gentle slopes of a hill on the island of Losinj, with a view of the western shores of Kvarner bay. However, the present village is no longer the original old settlement which evolved from a fort dating back to ancient times.

The exact year is not recorded, but during the 16th century the old church of St. Nicholas was built, then enlarged in 1784, in appearance very similar to the St. Mary Magdalena church in Nerezine. It was pulled down in order to build a simple, single-nave church with a rectangular sanctuary in 1908, which is still there today, with the campanile added in 1923. Unfortunately, there is very little left of the original lavish artistic interior decorations.

The main road below Cunski branches off leading to the Losinj airfield, situated amongst the fields. As the land here is very fertile, and the sea rich with fish, the area was populated as early as the Bronze Age, and during Roman times there were numerous villas, villae rusticae, along the shores. Ruins of one are still recognizable in the Studiencic bay, together with the remains of a sarcophagus. An old built-up fountain, the primary necessity for survival, also still exists there.

The island of Losinj has been inhabited ever since the prehistoric period (hill-forts at the foot of Osorscica and around the port of Mali Losinj). In the ancient times, the islands Losinj and Cres had a common name, Apsirtides. In several places the ruins of Roman villas have been excavated (villae rusticae: Liski, St. James, Studencic near Cunski). In the Middle Ages Losinj was unpopulated and the property of the clerical and secular nobility of -Osor, sharing the same fate with the island of Cres, all up to recent times. - From the Romanesque period, several small eremitic churches have been preserved (St. Lovrec near Osor, St. James in the village of the same name). The first settlers from the mainland were mentioned in 1280. Pursuant to a contract with Osor, their settlements gained self-government in 1389. The name Losinj was first mentioned in 1384. Parallel with the gradual decline of Osor from the 15th century onwards, the settlements Veli Losinj and Mali Losinj were playing an increasingly important role. In the 18th and 19th centuries, trade, shipbuilding and seafaring on the island developed more intensely. After the fall of the Republic of Venice Losinj was under the Austro-Hungarian rule up to its breaking off in 1918; under Italy up to 1943. In 1945 the island was annexed to Croatia.

In New York there is a Cunski-American Social Club (http://www.cunski.us).