2 stops in walking order

Museum

Pag Lace was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 as one of just three intangible cultural elements recognised in Croatia, and this dedicated museum on the main square of Pag old town is the essential place to understand this extraordinarily fine needlepoint craft. Traditional Pag Lace is made using a single needle and thread on a special round pillow called 'balunčić', worked from geometric memorised patterns passed down through female lineages for at least 500 years; a single small mat can take 60–100 hours to complete and only a handful of women in Pag are still able to work the most complex 18th-century patterns. The museum, opened in 2010 in an elegantly restored 15th-century town palace, displays over 200 pieces of lace including several stunning ecclesiastical vestments made for Croatian churches, personal wedding veils belonging to identified Pag women of the 19th century, and everyday domestic pieces showing how the craft was universally practised throughout the town. Most days one of the town's registered lace-maker 'keepers' demonstrates her work in person and answers questions in Croatian or heavily-accented English — she is not on a schedule, so this is a genuine encounter. The museum shop sells authentic pieces with certificates of provenance from small €30 medallions to €4,000 collector items.

~1 h at this stop

Old Town

The old town of Pag — quite distinct from the modern beach resort of Novalja on the same island — is one of the finest Renaissance planned cities in the Mediterranean and easily the most under-visited of Croatia's UNESCO-worthy townscapes. It was designed from scratch in 1443 by the great Renaissance architect Juraj Dalmatinac (the same Juraj who built Šibenik Cathedral) as a purpose-built salt-industry town for the Venetian Republic, and its perfectly regular grid of narrow limestone streets radiating from a central square is a masterwork of early urban planning. The star sight is the never-finished parish church of the Assumption of Mary on the main square — begun 1443 to Juraj's design, with a stunning rose window and richly carved gothic portal — accompanied by an elegant Duke's Palace on the same square. The tiny alleys off the square are the domain of the town's famous 'Paška Čipka' (Pag Lace), an intricate needlepoint craft inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage List in 2009 and still practised by dozens of local women; the excellent small Museum of Pag Lace shows the process and sells original pieces. Beyond lace, the town is famous for 'Paški Sir' (Pag sheep's cheese) — the greatest of all Croatian cheeses, aged in sea-salt-impregnated cellars.

~2 h at this stop