The tiny town has remained almost unchanged for a thousand years.
Visitors to the Istrian peninsula of Croatia may enjoy a spectacular view of Hum, a medieval village right in the middle of the peninsula, which, according to its current official status, is still registered as a town.
In 2001, the town was registered as having six resident registered, and it has officially become the world’s smallest city recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. Nowadays the guide books mention a number of inhabitants between 17 and 23 people.
The first written records mention the town of Hum in 1102, and it is known that at those times no building was situated outside the castle wall. The “gate” of the village is a bastion built in the 16th century. After passing through the gate, the Saint Jerome church built in the 12th century is located at the left, and next to the church there is a bell tower built in 1552. The earliest samples of Glagolitic writing from the 12th century have been preserved on the walls of the church.
Looking at the stone houses of the world’s smallest city feels almost as a time travel, as most of them kept their original form, demonstrating how a small mountain village looked in the Middle Ages.
The tow called the Croatian Toscana, with its two stone streets and a small square, can be all covered in a 10-minute walk. Of course, taking advantage of its tourist significance, there a restaurant and a gift shop in the village, which, as we know, is the smallest town in the world.
