Osor is a village and a small port on the Cres

Cres

Cres is an Adriatic island in Croatia. It is one of the northern island in the Kvarner Gulf and can be reached via ferry from the island Krk or from the Istrian peninsula ....

 island in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County

Primorje-Gorski kotar County is a county in western Croatia that includes the Bay of Kvarner and the surrounding Northern Croatian seacoast, and the mountainous region of Gorski kotar...

 in western 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 ...

.

Osor lies at a narrow channel

Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or human-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...

 that separates island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

s Cres and Lošinj

Lošinj

Lošinj is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, in the Kvarner Gulf. It is almost due south of the city of Rijeka and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....

. The channel was built in Roman times to make sailing possible. Now the islands are connected with a rotating bridge

Swing bridge

A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...

.

The first settlements of the area date in the prehistoric times. In Roman times, Osor, then called Apsoros, was an important center of trade on the route to the ports of Northern Adriatic. After the fall of Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, Osor became a part of Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 and was a seat of archdiocese since the 6th century. In 841

841

Year 841 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* June 25 – Battle of Fontenay: Louis the German and Charles the Bald defeat Lothar....

 it was burned down by Saracens, in the 10th century, it came under Croatian rule. In The 14th century it was Republic of Venice, in the 19th Austro-Ungarian Empire and after first World World Kingdom of Italy.

After II World War Osor-Ossero was Jugoslav Republic.

Today, Osor is a tourist-oriented town in Republic of Croatia, with sculptures of Ivan Meštrović

Ivan Meštrovic

Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...

scattered around the center. Several camping sites are located near.