Church of St. Clement and the Lighthouse and other Piran, Slovenia Things to Do Tips

A pleasurable walk from Tartini Square along the shore towards the Punta Madonna lighthouse takes you to a beautiful Church dedicated to the one of the first Roman popes – St. Clement. The rather ancient building - dating back to the thirteenth century but with Renaissance aspects - is located between the sea and a beguiling square with benches.
Because of the dreaded plague that propagated throughout Istria in the seventeenth century, the church was renamed as Our Lady of Salvation, for the protection of Istria.
The present appearance has been formed after many renovation in the past centuries.

The semi-octagonal lighthouse attached to the front of the keeper's house, all built on the circular stone pier. Lantern apparently removed. Far from a typical lighthouse, it is simply a large light bulb with a Fresnel lens attached to the fence which surrounds the bell tower beside the keeper's house. The round bell tower is often mistaken for the lighthouse.

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Directions: At the end of the beach promenad.

Above the compact town centre reigns the St. George Cathedral, which gives the city its special character. It is composed of three distinct constructions laid out in a row. From east to west they are: the church, the belltower and the baptistery.
The Cathedral was probably built in the 12th Century, but no exact data in regard exists. The handsome seventeenth century bell tower was designed by Giacomo di Nodari, a Capodistria artist. It rises sharply between the rounded apse of the church and the baptistery. On the top is the twirling angel of St. Michael, which locals use to predict the weather, according to which way it points.
It was blatantly copied from the St. Mark’s campanile in Venice. There is an interesting fact, however, this imitation is older(!!) than the original, which collapsed unexpectedly in 1902, and was rebuilt just 10 years later.
Enter the tower and climb the wooden stairs to the top for an extraordinary view of the City and the Bay of Trieste.
Visiting of the museum beside the Campanile makes it possible to get into the church which is nearly always closed, though it has a fine interior with altars and picture canvases from the Venetian school, a wooden sculpture of St. George Killing the Dragon and St Nicholas, the patron of sailors.

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Phone: ++386 5 673 34 40
Address: Tartini Square
Directions: The north side of the square
Website: http://www.slovenia.info/?kul_zgod_znamenitosti=6730

When the Venetians came to Piran after the fall of the Carolinian Empire in the late 13th Century, they built a lot of buildings as a memento of the power of their Republic.
In the Tartini Square, the centre of the medieval Piran, stands the most beautiful building of the square, the Venetian woman’s House with a typical balcony and window trifora, one of the many examples of architecture in the Venetian Gothic style in Slovenia.
The facade bears a stone heraldic plaque with the initial B and a lion holding in its paws a ribbon with the inscription "Lasa pur dir", around which a legend arose.
According to it, a rich local maiden fell in love with a Venetian merchant. When he was away, evil tongues made the girl's life ever difficult. As a result the sportive merchant had the stone plaque with the inscription "Let them talk" put on the house.
Inside, there's a tiny gift shop selling salt from the nearby saltpan of Secovlje.

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Directions: North side of Tartini Square

It is one of the oldest buildings in Piran where the wellknown virtuoso violinist, composer, teacher and inventor was born, documents from the year 1384 mention it as "Casa Pizagrua".
The museum on the 1st floor houses the musician's funeral mask, some music scores, various portraits, frescoes, an oil portrait painting of Tartini and his violin, a prestigious "Amati".
By the way, Tartini invented a violin bow and taught violin to many students. Among his compositions are sonatas and concertos for violin and other instruments.
One sonata nicknamed the "Devil's Trill" became world famous because Tartini pretended it had been dictated to him in a dream by the devil. It was a very clever PR, wasn't it?!!
The tricentennial of his birth was celebrated by a concert in the St. George cathedral in 1992.
The Birth house was recently renovated in the late eighties, when interesting frescoes were uncovered during renovation works.

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Phone: + 386 5 663 35 70
Address: Kajuhova 12
Directions: Just in the neighbourhood of town hall

Opeing hours: Sept-May: 11am-12pm, 5pm-6pm Tue-Sun, closed Mon; Jul-Aug: 9am-12pm, 6pm-9pm Tue-Sun, closed Mon
Website: http://www.pmk-kp.si/
Other Contact: pmk-kp@guest.arnes.si

History is reflected in the shining marble of Tartini Square in Piran in all its richness of colour and exciting expectation. Tartini Square is where the lively and important events of the coming week are announced by the Mayor’s Herald in his colourful historical costume. Guided sightseeing tours of the old town begin at the monument to the great composer and virtuoso violinist, a famous son of this city, Giuseppe Tartini.
The town square, ironic in the fact that it is actually a large oval of polished white marble, is perhaps the town’s most distinctive feature, visible in every high altitude photos, in books and on post cards.
The square itself is perhaps the widest open space in the town, especially compared to some of the extremely narrow medieval streets which measured at most four feet in width in some of the older parts of the town.
If you get tired, go up to the terrace bar at the top of Hotel Tartini, and drinking a cool Campari you can admire the lovely square and its surrounding, the beautiful architecture, the charming small marina and the views up to the hills.

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Directions: The very centre of the city