Church of St Helen, Donje Selo

The church of St Helen (sv. Jela) stands south of Donje Selo on Šolta, beside the main island road. It is interesting because an early Christian past is hidden beneath it.

It was built in the middle of the 18th century on the foundations of an early Christian building from the 6th century. It is single-nave, correctly oriented, with a rectangular apse; the façades are of roughly dressed stone, and the roof is gabled with curved pantiles. The west façade has a simple entrance, above which is a round window, and at the top a bell gable with one bell. The altar mensa is an early Christian sarcophagus with an incised cross, and early Christian fragments are built into the apse. To the right of the door is a stone baptismal font from 1746 with an inscription in Croatian, the work of the local master Jakov Grković.

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-4772.

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: Wikidata (CC0).