TRAÙ (TROGIR). – A small city of Dalmatia north-west of Spalato, on an islet between the mainland and the Island of Bue (Čiovo).
It was founded by Syracusan colonizers coming from Issa, probably during the 3rd century B.C., under the name Tragurion; from that period there remain fine marbles and epigraphic texts of high artistic and historical value. With the Roman conquest of the territory, T. became an “oppidum Romanum” in the province of Dalmatia, known especially for its stone quarries (“Tragurium marmore notum,” as Pliny says). 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 during the 10th century became part of that kingdom. After the extinction of the Croatian dynasty and the passage of Croatia under Hungary, as a consequence of the so-called Pacta consenta (1102), T. frequently changed sovereignty. Before its subjection to Coloman, T. was under Venice for a brief period, and this situation recurred several times thereafter. In 1242 Bela IV of Hungary, defeated by the Mongols, found secure refuge in the city. T. submitted definitively to Venice in 1420. After the fall of the Republic (1797), there followed two Austrian occupations (1797–1805 and 1813–1918), interrupted by seven years of French sovereignty, first as a city annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and subsequently to the Illyrian Provinces. Since the end of the First World War, T. has formed part of the Yugoslav national state.
It is not known, however, when T. became an episcopal see, which in the Middle Ages meant at the same time a city. A bishop of T. is first mentioned in documents around 1000, on the occasion of Doge Pietro II Orseolo’s arrival in the city. T. belonged to the territory of the metropolitan see of Spalato. In 1224 it received Sebenico under its jurisdiction, and in 1285 other territories of the hinterland. But when Boniface VIII created Sebenico a diocese, the territory of T. was once again reduced. By Leo XII’s bull Locum beati Petri of 1828, the diocese of T. was suppressed and almost entirely incorporated into the diocese of Spalato, which then ceased to be a metropolitan see and was included in that of Zara; the smaller part, instead, was joined to the diocese of Sebenico. The cathedral church of T. then became a collegiate church and, in 1880, an abbey church. One of the first and most celebrated bishops of T. was Giovanni Orsini ([v.] 1062–1111), venerated as a blessed as early as the 12th century. Under Bishop Treguano (1206–64), much of the present Cathedral, dedicated to St. Lorenzo, was built, with the famous portal by the Croatian master Radovan. Besides this magnificent monument, which preserves exceedingly precious works of art (true jewels of art are also, in addition to the portal, the bell tower, built in various styles with a predominance of Flamboyant Gothic, the baptistery, the chapel of S. Giovanni Orsini, etc.), T. once had a further 32 churches, of which only a few are still in use. Worth mentioning are the tiny church of S. Barbara (10th century), the abbey church of S. Giovanni Battista, that of S. Niccolò with the convent of the Benedictines (where a magnificent Greek relief representing Kairos is preserved), etc.
T. was the birthplace of many illustrious men, including the blessed Agostino Kažotić (Casotti), Pietro Beislavić, 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 extremely important municipal collection 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 S. Domenico. – Vedi tav. XLVI.