Explore Pula

Pula Castle, known locally as the Kaštel, is a Venetian fortress built in 1630–1633 to plans by the French military engineer Antoine de Ville on the hill at the centre of Pula's old town. Four corner bastions enclose a courtyard. Since 1961 the fortress has housed the Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria, with exhibitions on the town's history.

Pula Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, stands on the south side of Pula bay on a site used for worship since Roman times. The three-aisled church grew from a 5th-century basilica and was largely rebuilt in the 15th century; it has a classicist façade of 1712 and a free-standing bell tower of 1707. Part of an early Christian floor mosaic survives.

The Arch of the Sergii is a Roman triumphal arch built around 29–27 BC against the inner side of Pula's former Golden Gate. Salvia Postuma paid for it in honour of three men of the Sergii family; its west face carries their inscriptions, paired Corinthian columns, winged Victories and a frieze with chariots. It marks the entrance to the old town.

The Temple of Augustus stands on Pula's Roman forum and was dedicated to the goddess Roma and the emperor Augustus between 2 BC and AD 14. Six Corinthian columns carry a frieze of acanthus scrolls. The temple later served as a church and a granary, was hit by a bomb in the Second World War and was rebuilt; inside is a display of Roman sculpture.

Pula Arena is a Roman amphitheatre built in the 1st century AD outside the walls of ancient Pola; its outer wall measures 132.5 by 105.1 metres and rises to 32 metres. The ring of arches survives all the way round, with four rectangular towers, and the arena held about 23,000 spectators. It now hosts concerts and the Pula Film Festival.

Aquarium Pula occupies Fort Verudela, an Austro-Hungarian fort of 1886 on the Verudela peninsula south of the centre, and opened in 2002. Tanks in the old fort show Adriatic and tropical sea life, freshwater fish of the Amazon and desert animals, and the aquarium runs a rescue centre where injured loggerhead turtles are treated and returned to the sea.

Brijuni National Park covers an archipelago of 14 islands and islets off the Istrian coast near Pula and has been protected since 1983. The park's boats sail from Fažana to Veliki Brijun, where a guided tour by tourist train passes a safari park, the remains of a Roman villa in Verige bay and exhibitions on the islands' history, including Tito's years there.