Krka National Park
— the river the limestone is still building.
Not only on a wall.
“The Krka runs short and bright through karst country in central Dalmatia and falls in a series of travertine steps that the river itself is still laying down. The largest, Skradinski Buk, drops in seventeen cascades through a broad, shallow basin. Upstream, a small monastery has held the island of Visovac since the late fourteenth century. Boats leave from Skradin in the morning and return through the river's last bend before the Adriatic.
Krka National Park, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Krka National Park lies in central Dalmatia, inland from Šibenik, and covers about 109 square kilometres along the lower Krka River. Croatia designated the park in 1985 to protect the river's travertine waterfalls, its canyon, and the broader karst landscape it cuts through. The river rises near Knin and runs roughly 73 kilometres to its mouth in the bay of Šibenik. Inside the park, the island of Visovac holds a Franciscan monastery in continuous use since 1445, set in the river's broadest lake-like reach.
The waterfalls of Krka are built by the river itself. Calcium-rich water flowing over moss and other vegetation deposits calcium carbonate, layer on layer, in a form called travertine or tufa. Over thousands of years this builds living barriers across the riverbed, and the most famous of them, Skradinski Buk, drops about 46 metres through seventeen cascades. The smaller Roški Slap sits further upstream. The barriers shift over centuries as the tufa keeps forming, which is why the park bans bathing on the cascades themselves.
Most visitors enter the park through Skradin or Lozovac. From Skradin, the park operates seasonal boats up the river to the Skradinski Buk boardwalk loop. From Lozovac, a shuttle bus descends to the same area. Boat trips continue further upstream to Visovac and the Roški Slap area on a longer schedule. Swimming in the river was permitted for decades but was restricted in 2021 to protect the travertine. Spring and early autumn give the fullest water with the smallest crowds.