The origin of the name of the island is without doubt Greek, descends from greek word  Pharos (lighthouse). From it the Romans derived the name to Pharia. The Dalmatian Romans then derived from this Fara, at the end of the 11th century the Italians called it Lesina, or in Venetian dialect Liesena or Liesna. This was derived from an old Croatian adjective meaning "forest", and Croats in the early Middle Ages changed this to Hvar.

Since Hvar lies in the middle of the main sea routes, history has left many traces on it, maybe more than on any other Adriatic island. Constant fights over the island can only confirm its importance and value of its territory.. Each of the conquistadors left their traces in the history, a mark for the future...

The history of the island goes back into the prehistoric period, and the finds from two most important caves (Grapčeva and Markova špilja (caves)) prove that existence of the life on the island is atleast 6000 years old.

Characteristic examples of painted pottery enabled us to identify the so-called Hvar culture (around 3500 to 2500 BC). The oldest description of a ship in Europe was found on a pottery fragment in Grapceva spilja (cave).

Some people believe that the Grapceva spilja was a place where Odysseus fought against Cyclops. The fragments from the legend: "...That was the land of the Cyclops about which Odysseus knew nothing. He just moored and saw a cave overshadowed by a laurel tree and a huge stone protected the entrance. There lived Cyclops, all by himself..."

The town of Pharos was founded in 385 BC by the Ionian Greeks, the Parans,  as an agrarian colony. The map of land division of the fertile plain of Stari Grad is an exceptional document 2500 years old and belongs to that period. It is today one of 3 oldest plains in the world with preserved Greek land division.

Pharos came under the rule of the Romans in 219 BC and was called Pharia. In the period of the Roman rule villae rusticae were built over the whole island, mostly in the town of Hvar, Stari Grad and around the present-day Jelsa.

In the early Middle Ages Hvar was under Croatian authority. From 1420 till the fall of Venetian Republic (1797), Hvar was governed by Venetians.  Hvar became the main Venetian port in the eastern part of the Adriatic. From that time dates the oldest communal theatre in Europe built in 1612 in Hvar.




Later on Hvar came under the Austrian rule (1797) until the arrival of the French (1806), and their constant fight marked that period. The Austrians reoccupied the island in the 2nd half of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century bringing a period of relative prosperity. Around that time all the island ports were rebuilt. Its prominence in nautical and trade domination became quite large, so in that period there were four consulates in the town of Hvar: Greek, Parmesan, Papal and Napolitan.

The first meteorological station in Croatia was established in the tower of the monastery of Veneranda in 1858. Weather conditions helped to promote tourism on Hvar. As a result, in 1868 was founded "The Hygienic Society" of Hvar - the first tourist society in Europe.

In 1918 the Italian army occupied the island and the occupation lasted until 1921, when Hvar, along with the whole of Croatia, joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, succeeded by the Republic of Yugoslavia after the Second World War. Hvar obtained a new administrative position in the territorial reorganisation that took place after the recognition of Croatia as an independent state (1992)...

Outstanding palaces and churches, valuable paintings and sculptures, important literal and music works have been created over a long period, and still the artists find the inexhaustible inspiration in the beautiful island...
Hanibal Lucic, Petar Hektorovic, Vinko Pribojevic, Miksa Pelegrinovic... only a few of the protagonists of the Croatian culture who lived and worked on the island.