Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar

Gunpowder changed war, and Venice answered with a new architecture: low, angular bastioned fortresses engineered to absorb and return cannon fire. Six of the Republic's finest defensive works — stretching more than 1,000 km from Lombardy down the Adriatic — form this transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2017. Croatia contributes Zadar's defensive system and the island fortress of St Nicholas at Šibenik, built to guard the harbours and sea lanes of Venice's maritime empire, the Stato da Mar.