Punat
has an outstanding jewel, the islet of Košljun with its Franciscan monastery,
which lies in the middle of the Punat Bay. It seems as if cultural and historical
heritage, as well as nature at its best, have settled on this small piece
of wooded land amidst the sea. The humble and hard working Franciscan monks
have manged to collect and preserve priceless artefacts throughout the centuries.
Visitors can admire their archives and library containing over 20,000 volumes,
some of which are invaluable rare copies. There is also a very impressive
ethnographic museum, a natural history and numismatic collection, as well
as a permanent exhibition of sacral art.
In
the profusion of cultural-historical places and things worth seeing - from
the vestiges of ancient Rome to the Sv. Ttinty parish church - the most valuable
monument is the famous Bašcanska ploca (an inscribes slab) discovered
in the chourch of St.Lucia, a former Benedictine monastery in Jurandvor.
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"IN THE NAME OF FATHER AND SON AND HOLLY SPIRIT
I
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ABBOT DRZIHA MAKE NOTE OF THIS ABOUT THE TRACT
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DONATED BY ZVONIMIR, KINGOF CROATIA ...."
This is opening text of an inscription craved onto a stone slab in 1100,
in Old Croatian Chakavian dialect and Glagolitic script - whose refined
visual effect signficantly reflects Croatian spirituality and its immersion
in Western civilization. As methaforical as the ornamental grapevine at
the top of the slab, so does divine intention and human comportment entangle
and disentangle folloving the decision of Croatian king Zvonimir (1075-1089)
to incline Croatia to St. Pether's Chair, whereas the inextinguishable radiance
of St. Lucia's Bascanska ploca has glowed with faith and hope for nine centuries
through the roadless Croatian reality.
The
fact that there is a cave in the vicinty of a village Rudine above Silvanj
cove has been known for over a hundred years and its entrance used to be a
simple hole in the ground. Ever since then it has stirred the imagination
of people with its secrets and the beauty of its calcine ornamentation.
According to a story, a smuggler's treasure is hidden in the cave, and with
the first curious visitors there began a gradual widening of its narrow passages,
so that people could move through it more freely. The cave's lenght (about
110 m), spaciousness beauty and interesting sedimented forms are trullu breathtaking.
The cave temperature is between 10 and 13° C all year round and occasional
leaks and moisture occur only after long periods of rain. Foot paths are maintaned
and safe, anabling anybody to visit the cave, children and the included
