Obradić-Bevilaqua Tower (Machiedo), Gromin Dolac

The Obradić-Bevilaqua Tower, today known as Machiedo, is located in Gromin Dolac on the island of Hvar, in the municipality of Jelsa in Split-Dalmatia County. For visitors it is of interest because it shows how, on the island in the 17th century, country living was combined with defence.

The tower was built around 1660, and was constructed by Ivan Obradić Bevilaqua, Knight of St Mark. Its plan is square, and it is built of dressed ashlar blocks. The roof is hipped, with a small acroterion and a covering of pantiles. Because of the slope of the terrain, it has three floors on the eastern side and two on the western. On the western side is the residential entrance, and on the eastern the service one, reached by stone steps along the south façade. The façades are articulated by a single window axis, and the windows are framed by stone beams. Beneath the gabled luminar on the west there are two brackets, probably for defensive purposes.

It is regarded as one of the best-preserved country and fortified buildings of the 17th century on Hvar. It is a protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-4945.

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 hr, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: DGU (centre of the settlement).