Preko is a municipality in Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

 in the Zadar county

Zadar County

Zadar County is a county in Croatia, it encompasses northern Dalmatia and southeastern Lika. Its center is the city of Zadar.- Population :According to the 2001 census, Zadar County has population of 162,045...

. According to the 2001 census, there are 3,871 inhabitants, 87% which are Croats

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

.

Sitting in the mountains above Preko, is the castle of St Michael, once the seat of the noble Stipanov dynasty. The ruins look out across the Adriatic Sea to Italy, from where the Stipanov clan originated at the time of the Emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

 Diocletian

Diocletian

Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244  – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....

. The castle was sacked by English crusaders on their way to the Holy Land, and by the fleeing Nazis in 1945. The high position of the castle, made it the perfect lookout and listening station for the occupying Germans.
Today, the castle is home to a telecommunications station.

External links

• http://opcina.preko.hr