Church of St Joseph, Svirče

The church of St Joseph is part of the Šimunić mansion residential complex in the southwestern part of Svirče, beside the path to Vrbanj. Visitors are interested in it as a witness to the life of Hvar priests and bishops.

The church was built in 1671 by canon Nikola Šimunić with his brothers. In the 17th and 18th centuries the bishops of Hvar regularly stayed in the mansion when they came on canonical visitations. The church is rectangular, without an apse, the main façade faces north, and it is built of roughly dressed stone in mortar. The portal has a semicircular lunette with a rustic head of St Joseph, and the year of construction and an inscription are carved on the lintel. The three-part stone bell gable collapsed and in 1969 was replaced by a new, single one.

The church is a protected cultural good and is entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-5611.

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).