Church of St Barbara at Borje, Koločep

In the southern part of the island of Koločep, in the Borje area near the village of Gornje Čelo, lie the remains of the Church of St Barbara. The place belongs to the City of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik-Neretva County, and for lovers of antiquities it is interesting as a rare trace of pre-Romanesque building on the islet.

The original church belonged to the so-called south Dalmatian single-nave type, with an articulated outer wall mantle, and most probably, like similar buildings, it had a dome. Inside, the original masonry base of the altar and the bed of the altar screen can still be seen, and quite a few fragments of so-called acoustic amphorae built into the vault were found. North of the church stretched an early medieval cemetery that has not been fully investigated. Construction is placed in the 9th or 10th century, and the excavations yielded, alongside the pre-Romanesque stone parts, fragments of early Christian origin. Life at the site lasted until the 15th century.

The remains are a protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-6203.

Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence.