Mystery of Croatian island-imprint: 1000 stone walls and not a single resident (10 photos)

This tiny island in the Adriatic Sea, measuring just 0.14 km², is made up of 23 kilometers of stone walls.





Baljenac (or Bavljenaci) is not just a piece of land, but a man-made wonder. From above, it looks like a mysterious labyrinth or a giant's fingerprint.

Why would anyone want to build walls on an uninhabited island?



Centuries ago, farmers from the nearby island of Kaprije turned Baljenac into an agricultural paradise. They hand-built stone walls to protect vineyards and olive trees from the wind. No cement, no mortar, just patience and perseverance.

Impressive numbers





23 kilometers of walls on an island with only 1.4 kilometers of coastline;

300 farmers built over 100 kilometers of walls throughout the Sibenik archipelago;

These walls are now protected by UNESCO as a monument to human industriousness.

How to get there?



There is no pier or accommodation on the island itself - only rocks, sea and silence. But you can go on a boat tour from Sibenik (the oldest Croatian city on the Adriatic) and admire this miracle from the water.



And what about a heart-shaped island? Yes, Croatia can boast of such a thing! Galešnjak is a private Valentine island, where only rabbits and wild plants live. But Baljenac is perhaps even more mysterious: its walls are like lines from an ancient book that has yet to be read.



This island is definitely worth seeing, because it really does look like a fingerprint or an ancient map, and the winding walls, reminiscent of papillary lines, are the merit of hardworking people who built them without technology, using only manual labor and diligence.