page_title: Krapanj
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Krapanj / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Sunset over Krapanj, picture taken by Tomislav Vukelja
context_page_description: Krapanj is an island in the Adriatic Sea, located south of Šibenik, Croatia.
  Krapanj is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Adriatic Sea covering 0.36 km². It is also the most densely inhabited island and has the lowest elevation. Krapanj is 300 m offshore at its closest point from the mainland village of Brodarica.
context_section_description: Many of the Adriatic Islands were populated in pre-history by the Illyrians. Krapanj however was  first populated by Croatian Toma Jurić, a nobleman from Šibenik and a descendant of the Šubić family from Bribir. Jurić purchased the island in 1436 from the Šibenik County with the intention of building a Franciscan church on the uninhabited island. Realising their father's dream after his death, Jurić's 4 sons completed The Holy Cross Church and monastery in 1523 with blessings from Pope Eugene IV on one condition: only the Friars were to live and inhabit Krapanj.
  Krapanj came under the possession of the Franciscan Province of St. Jerome of Dalmatia in the 16th century as the Ottoman Empire invaded neighbouring lands. The Franciscans allowed people living on the neighbouring mainland to build their own settlement, southeast of the monastery who then united to defend themselves against the Ottomans.
  Since the work of the Franciscan friars was closely connected to the inhabitants of the island, in 1652, the monastery was given a parish and the friars began offering spiritual and other assistance to parishes on the mainland. The remains of the old church walls, in part, can be seen by the front door of the cloister. The church was expanded in 1937, and the wall bearing the consecration date (May 15, 1523) joins the new church building with the cloister.
  Krapanj was the most densely populated of all Croatian Islands given a lucrative economy. But from the middle to late 20th century,  many inhabitants fled communism and poverty by emigrating to Australia, Canada and the United States. Adding to the trend of depopulation, the population decreased from 1,767 in 1981 to only 170 in 2011.
caption: Krapanj
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