Krka National Park

The Krka River is 72.5 km long and falls 224 m along its course, building up travertine barriers in the same way as Plitvice. The area was proclaimed a national park on 24 January 1985, and its boundaries were revised in 1997 to the present 109 km2 along the Krka and the lower Čikola.

People have lived along the river for millennia. Remains of Roman fortifications such as Burnum lie near the park, the Franciscans settled on Visovac island in the 15th century, and the Serbian Orthodox Krka Monastery, first mentioned in documents in 1402, still stands on the river's upper reaches. At Skradinski buk, the ruins of the Krka hydroelectric plant of 1895 recall one of the early schemes to supply electricity for city street lighting.

The towns around the park, especially Skradin on the river's estuary and the villages of the Šibenik hinterland, have long lived from the river, its mills and its fish. Today the park is a major part of local life and employment, and Skradin's marina and waterfront fill with visitors in summer. Visovac remains an active place of Franciscan life, and Krka Monastery is an important spiritual centre for the Orthodox community of Dalmatia, so visitors are expected to behave quietly and dress modestly at both.