Nerezisca

Centrally located in the middle of the island at an altitude of 382 m lies the former island capital Nerežišća. Since every place can be reached from here in about the same time while the location nevertheless protects against unwanted intruders, the government of the day regularly settled here until the end of Venetian rule. The buildings in what is today a village of 700 people are correspondingly imposing and representative. The town is laid out very generously altogether: it is and always has been the one with the largest area on the whole island. And numerous relics from long-past settlement epochs are still to be found both in the town centre and outside it: Gothic houses, early Christian chapels, a pagan cult relief showing a dragon slayer, and the remains of drystone walls from Illyrian times.

Lined with winged lions, the emblem of the Serenissima, the prince's court presents itself in the centre of the town. Here the administrators of the island lived and worked, here the doges spent the night on their rare journeys, here the fate of the peasants was decided - against which, as is well known, they rebelled. Nonetheless the building is very fine to look at today.

The monumental church of Saint Mary dominates the townscape of tranquil Nerežišća. It was built as early as the 13th century and even then received its pretty pointed-hood roof. In the 18th century the old masonry was adapted as far as possible to the Baroque style - and thereby made no less worth seeing. In the chancel you can view a painting by the Venetian artist Ridolfi.

The church of Saint Peter has stood unchanged since the 14th century. Only the surroundings changed: perhaps attracted by the rustic charm of the robust chapel, the town centre formed around it, so that it is now to be found right on the main square. Besides the relief from the year 1578 in the interior, the pine growing out of the masonry outside is also worth seeing. One may be curious how much longer the stones will withstand the root system…