Otocac

OTOCAC, a town in the north-western part of Lika (Croatia); situated at the river Gacka, in the western part of the field bearing the same name, named after the early Croatian parish; elevation 459 m. Consists of the upper and lower part (the Upper and Lower Town).

Heritage

The text of the famous Baska Tablet (around 1100) quotes that the church of St. Nicholas in Otocac was a part of the order community with the church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor on the island of Krk. From 1300 a property of the Frankopans. Sigismund Frankopan founded there a diocese (1461-1535) with the church of St. Nicholas. The settlement with a defence tower, at a winding of the river Gacka, was protected by a fortification with towers (after demolition in 1829, only parts of it remained preserved). For the purpose of a safer defence, a castle of the Renaissance concept ("Fortica") was built in 1619, with a triangular layout of the cylindrical towers (ruins above the town). From 1746 Otocac was the headquarters of a regiment. From the period of Vojna Krajina (Croatian Military Border) a number of harmonious, simple, mostly two-storey houses originate. The Baroque parish church of the Holy Trinity erected in 1684 (restored in 1774) is a large one-nave building with rounded sanctuary; three side chapels are on each side of the nave. The bell -tower rises from the main front. The late Baroque and classicist furnishing of the church includes seven altars, a pulpit, baptismal font and sepulchral slabs from the 18th century.