This thesis explores the perceptions of Hvar's communal identity in the 16th century in literary texts as well as in other texts closely related to literature. The research is based on the definition of identity as the self-image of the community, which is partly conditioned by the images that others have about that same community, or hetero-images. Accordingly, the theoretical framework of the research defines the identity based on the scientific contributions of Z. Baumann, E. Said, and T. A. van Dijk. The validity of heritage transfer as continuity in the sphere of perceptions is taken from M. Todorova while the theoretical hypotheses about the relationship between space and place are taken from human geographers. The very communal identity is defined on the basis of the theoretical hypotheses of M. Castells as a term that signifies a sense of belonging to a smaller community and a cultural identity created within it. It is accepted that identity is always a construct of the elite of a certain period, and finally, the theory of intellectual fields of P. Bourdieu is accepted for exploring how the creative elite communicates with each other while its members take on positions of influence and power. As a method of research, a phenomenological approach was used, which necessarily uses historiographical and sociological knowledge. The initial part of the research established a contemporary, generally accepted perception about Hvar in the 16th century. Following the genesis of the emergence of this perception of the Hvar Renaissance in the last hundred and seventy years, from the “rediscovery” of Hvar Renaissance literature until today, it has been shown that the influential elite of historians and literary historians shaped this image in accordance with the ideological and aesthetic values of their day. It was also shown that the intellectual elite originating from the island of Hvar played a decisive role in this process, and that its discourse was often characterised by campanilism. Examining the foundations of this perception of the Renaissance heritage of Hvar was only possible with the new, open reading of the original texts of the 16th century, to which three central chapters of the thesis are dedicated. In the first chapter, a direct view from the outside (hetero-image) is examined in the texts of pilgrims from the 15th and the 16th century, a Venetian official's diary, a travel report by a Venetian inspector and a travelogue of a young British adventurer. The second chapter studies the texts of Dalmatian writers outside the island, which discuss Hvar or Hvar writers. Since these are exclusively epistles, communication texts, it turned out that it was impossible to investigate without including the addressees – the Hvarians. This study yielded the Hvar intellectual fields as well as a more precise chronology of Hvar literature and a new distribution of influence among Hvarian writers - intellectual and noble elite of the 16th century. The third chapter analyses four selected works of the literary writers of Hvar, which are the representatives of the 16th century, based on the date of their creation: at the very beginning of the century there is Pričanje by Pavle Paladinić, at the end Hvarkinja by Martin Benetović, while the works of Vinko Pribojević (Oratio de origine successibusque Slavorum) and Petar Hektorović (Ribanje i ribarsko prigovaranje) illustrate the most powerful personalities and ideas that emerged in the first half and in the middle of this century. Based on the analysis of these works, it was possible to follow the changes of social contexts and modifications of the community’s self-images as a consequence of these changes. The conclusion of the thesis brings the systematic overview of the hetero-images and self-images of the island of Hvar, followed with the construction of the image of the Hvarian community in the 16th century, devoid of the multi-century interpretation and based on the images resulting from the open reading of the original texts of the 16th century.