Church of St Martin the Bishop, Vranjic

The parish church of St Martin the Bishop in Vranjic, in the municipality of Solin, is known for the frescoes of Jozo Kljaković and a rich history reaching back to the 10th century. In Dalmatia the combination of old layers of building and a contemporary painting programme is a rarity.

A transcript of the charter of King Krešimir II mentions Vranjic as a place with a church already around 950. In 1080 King Zvonimir donated estates to the Archbishop of Split, Lovro. After the Turks left in 1648 the church was demolished, partly rebuilt and enlarged, with the bell gable retained. It is 17.80 m long, single-nave and Baroque, and in 1930 a free-standing bell tower with a public clock was built beside it. The walls were painted in 1929 by Jozo Kljaković with the help of Vjekoslav Parać and Krsto Hegedušić, and the programme was conceived with Don Frane Bulić. The organ is by Brandl, from 1931. Of particular value are the Stations of the Cross cycle by Ferdinand Candella from 1846 and Meštrović's bust of Don Frane Bulić in front of the church.

The church is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-6912.

Photo: The original uploader was Caruso zg 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: DGU (centre of the settlement).