The harbour was formed in the 19th century when a number of houses were built on the slope between the old town centre and the sea front. However, life has been going on in the bay of Vrsar since ancient times up to present days. In some medieval documents the area around the harbour of Vrsar was called "Fabian". In the period from the 12th to the 17th century here the saltworks and storehouses were standing that belonged to the Poreč bishopric.
The ancient abandoned stone quarries should also be added up to the sights of Vrsar. In the Vrsar quarries the stone has been obtained ever since Roman times.
The most famous and important monument, the starting and ending point of every sightseeing tour is the Amphitheatre, popularly called the Arena of Pula, which was once the site of gladiator fights. It was built in the 1st century AD during the reign of Emperor Vespasian, at the same time as the magnificent Colosseum in Rome.
After the Arsenal was founded in 1856, Pula faced a period of intensive building, marked by the construction of new buildings mostly related to the activities of the main naval port of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: from the Naval hospital and Naval cemetery to numerous barracks of the Hydrographic Institute, Marine Casino, military and civil buildings, residential buildings for officers and civil servants, as well as residential buildings for workers and lower grade clerks.
Baroque palace of Battiala-Lazzarini family today is a town museum. Counts Lazzarini, who had several properties in the Labin area, left after World War Two.
From the upper circular street one of the perpendicular paths leads to the top of the central hill of the city where a star-shaped castle with four bastions was built in 1630.
Within the city, along the main street that from Flavia Street leads to the Forum, stands the Cathedral of Pula. It was built at the site where Christians gathered already in the time of their persecution (until the 4th century).
It is one of the two chapels built in the 6th century as part of a large Benedictine abbey demolished in the 16th century. The floor and walls were decorated with mosaics, some of which are now in the Archaeological Museum of Istria.
On the slope of the hill between the Forum and the upper circular street, lies the monastic complex dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, built in the 14th century at the site of a previous cultic edifice.
