Labin (Italian/Istriot: Albona) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, with a town population of 5,806 (2021) and 10,424 in the greater municipality (which also includes the small towns of Rabac-Porto Albona and Vinež-Vines, as well as a number of smaller villages).[2]
History
View over the town
Labin developed from the site of the Roman settlement of Albona. Its name predates classical antiquity and is derived from Proto-Indo-European*alb- ("eminence", "hill").[3] Before and under the Roman occupation, Albona was an important commune. On a marble tablet the Roman inscription we read that under the Emperor Marco Iulio Severo Filippo noble Caesar noble Prince made Albona a Republic. To be a republic it had to have two joined Magistrates called Duumviri and Public officers called Aediles which took care of Public buildings and other official duties.[4]
From 1295 it was under the rule of the dukes of Pazin, and from 1381 it found itself under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. From 1420 until 1797 it was ruled from the Republic of Venice and after that belonged to Austrian Empire until 1918, when it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. Labin, as a Croatian-speaking town, was for a long time the centre of Croatia's largest coal mining district, with four mines operating at the height of its production. In March and April 1921, the town was the scene of a miners' strike which quickly grew into an anti-fascist rebellion, considered to be the first of its kind, and the declaration of the short-lived Labin Republic.[5] The mine in downtown Labin closed in 1989. The large, coal-fired power plant in nearby Plomin now has its coal imported from outside sources once the mines were closed. After the Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947, Labin, like the whole of Istria, was annexed to Yugoslavia.
The famous Lutheran reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus (3 March 1520 – 11 March 1575), was born in Labin and a small exhibition in what was once his house, commemorates this. Unfortunately, due to the counter-reformation, he was forced to live most of his life in exile in Germany where he became the undisputed leader of the conservative wing of the Lutheran movement after the death of Luther. His chief literary legacy was in the area of biblical exegesis.
Population
Settlements
The town's administrative area consists of 17 settlements:
Source: Naselja i stanovništvo Republike Hrvatske 1857–2001, DZS, Zagreb, 2005 Source for year 1945: Cadastre National de l'Istrie, Jadranski institut Sušak, 1946.
Labinjonska Cakavica, one of the most interesting and oldest Istrian dialects spoken in and around the town of Labin. It belongs to Northern Chakavian dialect of the Chakavian variety of Croatian. It differs from the usual Chakavian (with typical pronoun "ča") because it lacks most palatals, with other parallel deviations called "tsakavism" (cakavizam).
In 2019, by the decision of the Ministry of Culture, Labinjonska Cakavica became a protected intangible cultural asset of the Republic of Croatia.[9]
The current mayor of Labin is Valter Glavičić (IDS), elected in the 2021 Labin local elections which were held on 16 May 2021. There is one deputy mayor elected from the same list, Federika Mohorović Čekada.[12]
Municipal Council
The Labin Council is composed of 15 representatives, elected in the 2021 Labin local elections.
The political groups represented in the Council (as of June 2021):
^Labin, Yugoslavia (1870). Societa del Gabinetto di Minerva (ed.). Statuto municipale della città di Albona dell'a. 1341 (in Italian). Trieste: Società del Gabinetto di Minerva. pp. III–XVI. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
^G. Scotti - L. Giuricin. La Repubblica di Albona e il movimento dell'occupazione delle fabbriche in Italia
