Church of St Sylvester, Biševo

The church of St Sylvester is located on the islet of Biševo, near Komiža. It attracts visitors as a remnant of an old Benedictine monastery, of which only a wall with arrow slits and the church itself are visible. It belongs to the town of Komiža in Split-Dalmatia County.

The church is mentioned in the middle of the 11th century, and was rebuilt in the 14th century. It is covered by a Gothic vault with transverse ribs resting on six wider lesenes, joined by arches. On the outside the walls are supported by wide buttresses, probably from the 16th century. From the original building only the semicircular apse with a small central window has remained. On the north and east the church is enclosed by a monastery wall with arrow slits; the monastery was run by Benedictines, like the neighbouring one in Komiža.

The church is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-7177.

Photo: August Dominus, CC BY-SA 4.0, 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).