Croatia Forum

[Filip]

Rasa

General information

Ever since the closing of the pit (1966) Rasa has been a peaceful place. Its traffic position and the vicinity of the sea have recently inspired the construction of new and contemporary family houses designed for tourist purposes.

RASA, a town in the inner part of the Raska Cove in the south-eastern part of Istria, 4.5 km southwest of Labin; elevation 10 m; population 1,970. Situated in the valley of the Krapanski Brook (a tributary of the Rasa river), near the village of Krapan, where the first pit of the Rasa coal basin was opened. Originally a swamp, the valley around the Rasa was gradually drained and improved to gain arable land. Chief occupation is farming. Rasa lies at the intersection of the main road (M2, E751) and a regional road, and at the railway junction connected with the railway station Most _ Rasa and the port Brsica in the Rasa Bay.

The Roman station Arsia has been identified on this location. Rasa is Istria's youngest town, pla-nned and built (architect Pulitzer-Finali) for the needs of the Rasa coal mines (1934). The structure of the town represents an example of a working-class settlement with standardized form of houses, a square, fountain, school, church and hotel. The church of St. Barbara (patron saint of miners) has the roof in form of an overturned coal wagon and a bell tower shaped as a miner's lamp. The whole town displays a modern type of the infrastructure of those times.

[Text by Croatia.hr]

[glen]

It would make a great film set! Quite eerie in places as it was obviously once a much busier place. You see it on maps but often wonder why it was there. You pass through it just before you enter Labin when travelling from Pula.