Cemetery with Stećci and Church of St Barbara, Dubravka

The cemetery with stećci and the Church of St Barbara lie north of the village of Dubravka in Konavle, in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, at the Varino Brdo site. The place lies on a historic route that connected the Dubrovnik area with the hinterland, and offers visitors a view of a medieval necropolis.

The church plot is enclosed by a dry-stone wall with two entrances, and near the southern entrance there is a prehistoric stone mound about 16 metres in diameter. The cemetery has been preserved almost in its original location, with graves on terraced slopes. In total 104 stećci have been preserved, of which 69 are slabs and 35 are chests, and 31 of them are decorated. The prevailing motifs are tendrils with a trefoil, twisted bands and ropes, rows of spirals, rosettes with crosses, relief wreaths, a bow and arrow, and a shield and sword. The present church is a simple rectangular building from 1889, built on the site of an older medieval church. The whole ranks among the most valuable authentically preserved medieval sacred complexes of the wider Dubrovnik area.

The site is a protected cultural good and is entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-6046.

Photo: Ma▀▄Ga, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).