TRAU (TROGIR). — A small city in Dalmatia to the northwest of Split, situated on an islet between the mainland and the Island of Bue (Čiovo).
It was founded by Syracusan colonists from Issa, probably in the 3rd century B.C., under the name of Tragurion; notable marbles and epigraphic texts of high artistic and historical value remain from this period. With the Roman conquest of the territory, T. became a *oppidum Romanum* of the province of Dalmatia, renowned especially for its stone quarries (*Tragurium marmoreo tum*, as Pliny notes). It was in this city that the famous *Coena Trimalchionis*, a precious fragment of Petronius’ *Satires* hitherto believed lost, was discovered in the 17th century.
In the early Middle Ages, the city did not suffer the fate of nearby Salona; following the Avar-Slav incursions, it became part of the Byzantine theme of Dalmatia, then passed under the protection and jurisdiction of the kings of Croatia, and by the 10th century had become part of that kingdom. After the extinction of the Croatian dynasty and Croatia’s passage under Hungary, as a result of the so-called *Pacta conventa* (1102), T. frequently changed sovereignty. Before its submission to Coloman, T. was under Venetian rule for a brief period, a situation that recurred several times thereafter. In 1242, Bela IV of Hungary, defeated by the Mongols, found safe refuge in the city. T. finally submitted to Venice in 1420. After the fall of the Republic (1797), there followed two periods of Austrian occupation (1797–1805 and 1813–1918), interspersed with seven years of French sovereignty, during which the city was annexed first to the Kingdom of Italy and later to the Illyrian Provinces. Since the end of the First World War, T. has been part of the national Yugoslav state.
It is not known when T. became the seat of a diocese, a status that in the Middle Ages also signified a city. A bishop of T. is first mentioned in documents around the year 1000, on the occasion of the arrival in the city of Doge Pietro II Orseolo. T. was included within the territory of the metropolitan see of Split. In 1224, it came to include Šibenik within its jurisdiction, and in 1285, additional inland territories. However, when Boniface VIII established Šibenik as a diocese, the territory of T. was again reduced. With the bull *Locum beati Petri* of Leo XII (1828), the diocese of T. was suppressed and almost entirely incorporated into the diocese of Split, which at that time ceased to be a metropolitan see and was placed under that of Zadar; the smaller remaining portion was attached to the diocese of Šibenik. The former cathedral of T. was then demoted to a collegiate church, and in 1880, to a simple parish church. One of the earliest and most celebrated bishops of T. was Giovanni Orsini ([v.] 1062–1111), already venerated as a blessed in the 12th century. Under Bishop Treguano (1206–64), much of the present cathedral dedicated to St. Lawrence was built, including the famous portal by the Croatian master Radovan. In addition to this magnificent monument, which houses priceless works of art (among the treasures are the bell tower, built in various styles with a predominance of late Gothic, the baptistery, and the chapel of St. Giovanni Orsini, among others), T. once boasted no fewer than 32 other churches, of which only a few remain in use. Notable among them are the tiny church of St. Barbara (10th century), the abbatial church of St. John the Baptist, and that of St. Nicholas with the Benedictine convent (where a magnificent Greek relief of Kairos is preserved), among others.
T. was the birthplace of many illustrious men, including Bl. Agostino Kažotić (Casotti), Petar Berislavić, and the historian Giovanni Lucić (Lucio). The city possesses important archival collections, such as that held by the Chapter and another belonging to the former diocese, while the most significant municipal archive was destroyed by fire during the Second World War. There is also a rich library (Fanfogna-Garagnin) and a small lapidary museum in the convent of St. Dominic. — See pl. XLVI.