Dominican Monastery and Church of St Peter the Martyr, Stari Grad

In Stari Grad on the island of Hvar stands the Dominican monastery with the church of St Peter the Martyr, and in its western wing a monastery art collection can be viewed today. A visit combines sacred architecture and works of art in the peaceful atmosphere of the cloister.

The Dominicans founded the monastery here in 1481, and the first church was completed in 1488. The church stood on the north, while three wings enclosed the cloister to the south. In 1686 the monastery was reinforced with defensive elements and received two semicircular towers. In the 16th century the church was damaged in a fire during a Turkish incursion, so in the 17th and 18th centuries it was rebuilt and enlarged. A new church in a neo-style idiom was built in 1893 to a design by the Split builder Nikolić and is richly furnished with works of art. At the end of the 19th century the west wing was added, with plans drawn up by a local man, Zuvite.

The complex is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-6536.

Photo: Chippewa at Croatian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).