Church of St John the Baptist and Archaeological Site, Župa

The church of St John the Baptist stands in the cemetery in Župa, in the municipality of Zagvozd. A series of medieval tombstones is also kept beside the church, so the place is interesting both to historians and to hikers of the hinterland.

The present church was built in 1906, 25 metres long and 9 wide, of stone ashlar, with a semicircular apse in the north. The main façade has a simple profiled entrance, and in the gable a bell gable with two bells. The gabled roof is covered with grooved tiles, and inside are two wooden altars from the Rako workshop in Imotski. To the north are the remains of a ruined little church from the beginning of the 17th century. Around it, and built into it and the nearby chapel, are about forty slabs and chest tombs, mostly decorated with motifs characteristic of this area, which indicates a medieval cemetery.

The church with the site is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-5534.

Photo: KO Imotski, 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).