Koper

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Mestna občina Koper
Comune città di Capodistria

Area:

311.2 km²

Population
- males
- females

47,539
23,385
24,154

Average age:

38.28 years

Residential areas:
- households:
- families:

{{{residental_density}}}
17,391
13,879

Working active:
- unemployed:

23,397
2,907

Average monthly salary (August 2003):
- gross:
- net:

257,219 SIT
160,373 SIT

College/university students:

1,800

Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, census of 2002.

Koper (Slovenian) or Capodistria (Italian) is a coastal town and municipality and the largest commercial port in Slovenia, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The town has a population of 23,726 and is officially bilingual, with both Slovenian and Italian as official languages. Sights in Koper include the 15th-century Praetorian Palace in Venetian Gothic style, the 12th century Carmine Rotunda church, and the Cathedral of St Nazarius with its 14th century tower.

1 History
2 Prominent citizens
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Praetorian Palace

Koper rose from an ancient settlement built on an island in the southeastern part of the Gulf of Koper in the northern Adriatic. In the time of Ancient Greece, the town was known as Aegida, later it became known by its Latin names Capris, Caprea, Capre or Caprista, from which the modern Slovenian name stems.

In 568, Roman citizens of nearby Tergestum (modern Trieste) fled to Capris due to an invasion of the Lombards. In honour of the Byzantine emperor Justinian II, the town was renamed to Justinople. Later, Justinople was under both Lombard and Frankish rule.

Since the 8th century, possibly even since the 6th century, Koper was the seat of a diocese. One of Koper's bishops was the Lutheran reformer Pier Paolo Vergerio. In 1828, it was merged the diocese of Trieste.

Trade between Koper and Venice had been registered since 932. In the war between Venice and Germany (Holy Roman Empire), Koper was on the German side, and was in result awarded with town rights, granted in 1035 by the emperor Conrad II. From 1232, Koper was under the patriarch of Aquileia, and in 1278 it joined the Republic of Venice.

Koper grew to become the capital of Venetian Istria and was renamed to Caput Histriae, "head of Istria" (from which its modern Italian name Capodistria stems).

During the period of the Austrian Empire, Koper was, along with Trieste, part of the Austrian Littoral crown land. Assigned to Italy after World War I, at the end of World War II it was part of the Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste, controlled by Yugoslavia. Most of the Italian inhabitants left the city by 1954, when the Free Territory of Trieste formally ceased to exist and Zone B became part of communist Yugoslavia. The diocese was separated from Trieste.

With Slovenian independence in 1991 Koper became the only commercial port in Slovenia. The University of Primorska is based in the town.