In the area of Fulfinum (today’s toponym Okladi) the remains of various buildings from the Roman era are still well recognizable. Particularly impressive are the recently explored parts of the forum, the heart of the ancient city with its forum temple, basilica and taverns, and parts of the monumental architectural sculpture of public, forum buildings. Despite systematic research in recent years, the city of Municipium Flavium Fulfinum is for the most part still unexplored and unexcavated. His name is precisely known thanks to the finding of an inscription from the time of the Roman emperor Domitian, which mentions some works on the city waterworks. The inscription is kept in the Lapidary collection in Omišalj.
Municipium Flavium
Fulfinum and Mirine
Remains of the ancient city of Municipium Flavium Fulfinum from the second half of the 1st century AD. Kr. and early Christian basilicas from the 5th century AD. Kr.
Masonry structures and even the layout of communications are well visible in the configuration of the terrain. As the area has been cultivated for the past centuries, the remains of the plastered walls of ancient buildings are partly covered with dry stone mounds – boulders. The piers and representative buildings with floor mosaics are partly covered with mud in the shallows of Sepen Bay. The city was regulated by Roman grammarians as a completely new creation in a field where no settlement had existed before. The inhabited Roman veterans were given land that belonged to the natives of Omišalj – Fertinati. Such a lowland and coastal city had no chance of survival despite attempts to fortify it in late antiquity. It slowly died out and finally completely died out like Salona and many other cities of Roman civilization shaken by the migration of peoples.
Southwest of the forum at the Mirina site there is a late antique necropolis with a series of smaller and several large, privileged tombs and a large to the roof preserved tomb basilica of the presumed titular St. Nicholas. Due to its excellent preservation, the church can serve as an exemplary example of early Christian sacral buildings. The basic shape of the Latin cross is given to the church by its transverse nave – the transept. An exhibition of movable archeological material has been set up in its narthex, which has been restored and partly reconstructed. There is also an in situ preserved early Christian sarcophagus.
The atrium that extends along the south wall of the church towards the sea is the result of the subsequent adaptation of the building to the religious community, which eventually abandoned it, when it could no longer maintain it due to its dimensions. The Benedictines sought to continue the continuity by adapting a suburban residential complex with baths, located west of the basilica. Archaeologically, it has been researched and presented, so it can also be seen. Nicholas. Today’s toponym Mirina is a dialectal name for ruins – Croatianized from the Latin murus, which must have looked imposing to the settled Croats from the Middle Ages.
