Owing to its favourable location, pleasant climate and beauty of its monuments, today Poreč is the leading tourist destination in the region.
The ancient town of Parentium was founded by the Romans on an already sparsely inhabited peninsula. The small town featured a square grid layout of Cardo and Decumanus streets shaping the blocks of public and residential buildings. In spite of medieval and Baroque reconstructions, such a grid plan is even today visible in the direction of streets. The ancient Forum was situated on the tip of the peninsula, where on the north side in the 3rd century an early Christian complex was built which later, in the 4th century, was given the shape of a veritable public church. It was in the mid-6th century that Euphrasius, Bishop of Parentium, thoroughly refurbished the complex, furnishing the large basilica with rich wall mosaics.
The Euphrasian episcopal complex has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997. The monument’s value lies not just in its aesthetic value for all to see, but also in the documentary and historical value of the complex on the whole and in each particular detail. Contemporary valorisation of this monument takes into account the fact that all of its structures, including the outwardly invisible ones (i.e. the interior masonry, the foundations, the mortar layers, the archaeological remains, the traces of building phases etc.) are endowed with great documentary and scientific value. One could also add to this the monument’s use, since it has stayed faithful to its original purpose.