Barban – Barbana: “In 1536 Barban became the property of the Venetian family Loredan”
In the 13th century the village was under the domain of Count of Gorizia Enghelberto III and his wife Matilde.
Count of Gorizia were the lawyers of the Aquileia Patriarchs but it is not known exactly how they became the owners of Barban. In the middle of the 13th century Count of Gorizia accepted a new Croatian immigrants from Novi Vinodolski to Barban and the elementary school for them was opened where Glagolitic alphabet was studied.
Barban remained under Count of Gorizia and the County of Pazin until 1535. During that period Barban was involved in several disputes and wars. In 1312, the daughter of Count of Gorizia Enrico II of Lurn, Elisabetta, married Nicolo’ Pramperg and during the same year Barban suffered from plague.
In 1329 Barban was involved in a war between Count of Gorizia and the Aquileia Patriarchs. Some sources tell us that Barban was attacked by Genova soldiers in 1328 and that they helped the Aquileia Patriarchs the year after to occupy Barban.
Barban’s fortress was destroyed at the time and the town returned to Counts of Istria. In 1330 Sergio Castropola from Pula tried to occupy Barban. He did not succeed and had to pay to the Aquileia Patriarchs for all the damages his soldiers created.
In 1374, when Alberto IV died, the new owners of Barban was the Hapsburg family. During the Austrian period Barban had the current name. In addition, during that period there were several owners that obtained loans by giving Barban as guarantee.
In 1508 Barban was involved in the war between Venice and Austria, and was occupied by Venetian. Later on Venetian lost Barban but in 1516 Barban decided on his own to join Venice.
In 1536 Barban became the property of the Venetian family Loredan because Venetian government decided to sell it in an auction. When family Loredan bought Barban, Barban was the only property in Istria that had the possibility to have woman as successors.
At the beginning of the 17th century Barban was involved in another war between Austria and Venice named Uskoci war. The family Loredan owned feudal rights over Barban until 1869.
After the fall of Venice in 1797, Barban was part of the Austrian Empire and for a short period of time was under Napoleon domination. After the First World War and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Barban, was part of Italy and after the Second World War became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia).
During the Italian Fascist period in Istria many Istrian families suffered from the regime or had to leave Istria. Fascism in Istria applied various repressive measures mostly towards Slav populations and this created the Antifascist Movement. The Second World War was a very painful experience for the Istrian population and many innocent Istrians, both Slav and Latin, died during that war.
After the second World War Barban became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia). There were three agreements between Yugoslavia and Italy which established that Istria would become a part of Yugoslavia: Paris Agreement of 1947, London Memorandum of 1954 and the Osimo Agreement reached in 1975. In the first decade after the Second World War many Istrians, especially those living in towns and villages that for centuries were part of the Venice Republic, decided to leave Istria.
In 1991 with the fall of Yugoslavia and the founding of the Republic of Croatia, the internal republic boundaries were recognised as the state boundaries and Barban is today part of Croatia.
In 2013 Barban became part of the European Union. You can not change the past but you can try to learn from it. The main aim of the European Union founders was to build a system that could avoid future wars and future refugees in Europe as I explain in COSMOPOLITE.