Hum: The Smallest Town in the World
Hum (Italian: Colmo) is a medieval settlement nestled in the heart of Istria, administratively part of the town of Buzet. Recognised as the smallest town in the world, Hum has barely 20 to 30 permanent inhabitants and yet officially holds town status, complete with walls, gates, two churches, and a restaurant. The tiny village was first mentioned in written documents in 1102 under the name Cholm.
History and Glagolitic culture For centuries, Hum was an important centre of Glagolitic writing, the ancient Slavic alphabet used in Croatian liturgy. The Romanesque Church of St Jerome (12th century) preserves Byzantine-influenced frescoes depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ, painted in the second half of the 12th century, and contains some of Croatia's oldest Glagolitic inscriptions. From Hum begins the celebrated Glagolitic Alley, a 7-kilometre path lined with 11 stone monuments dedicated to the Glagolitic alphabet linking Hum with the village of Roč, erected between 1977 and 1985. Each year on 11 June —Hum's feast day— the men of the parish elect the mayor by carving their votes into a wooden stick known as raboš, a custom revived in 1977.
Heritage The main town gate, built between the 11th and 12th centuries and given its present form in 1562, displays magnificent copper doors installed in 1981 with handles in the shape of Istrian ox horns. The Parish Church of the Assumption of Mary (1802) and the small municipal loggia complete the list of significant buildings in this extraordinary enclave. Biska, the local brandy made from mistletoe according to a centuries-old recipe, is the traditional drink of Hum.
Points of interest: - Population: 20–30 permanent inhabitants (2011 census: 30). - Altitude: 349 metres above sea level. - Distances: 7 km from Roč, 14 km from Buzet, ~40 km from Rijeka. - Getting there: Own vehicle required. Paid parking by the entrance.