Komrcar Park

Komrčar is the forest park that runs west from the medieval walls of Rab town down to the sea. Its name comes from the Latin Campus Martius (Italian Campo Marzio), the old name for the open ground outside the walls. For centuries it was bare pasture; in the 15th century three churches stood here, and in 1491 a Franciscan friar, Matej of Zadar, built a church and monastery whose ruins still stand. The old monastery church is now the chapel of the town cemetery, which was laid out on part of the monastery garden in 1828.

The present forest is the work of one man, Pravdoje (Justus) Belia, Rab's municipal head forester, who came to the island in 1882 and held the post for more than 40 years. In 1890 he began planting the bare pasture with young pines. According to the chronicle of the Franciscan monastery at Kampor, he hired 25 workers and had them on site at four in the morning so the work would be done before the town authorities could stop it. Planting continued for years, and the slopes from the town walls to the sea gradually became forest. He also laid out the main network of paths, about 6.5 km in total. Belia died in 1923, and in 1974 the people of Rab placed a bust of him in the central part of the park.

Belia first planted Aleppo and maritime pine and later introduced native species such as holm oak, strawberry tree and laurel; large Aleppo pines up to 30 metres tall still stand in the park. In 1965 Komrčar was entered in the national register of protected nature, and it is now classified as a park-forest covering about 8 hectares, between sea level and 40 metres. A network of shaded paths crosses it, and a seaside promenade runs along its lower edge below the town.

Komrčar is the main green space of Rab town and the obvious place for a walk out of the sun in summer. The paths are short and gentle, and from the upper part there are views over the Bay of St. Euphemia towards the Frkanj peninsula. Entry is free, and the park is open at all times.