Remains of the Church of St Sergius at Bige, Koločep

Koločep is an island in the Dubrovnik waters, and in its southern part, in the Bige area, lie the remains of the Church of St Sergius. It is interesting to those drawn to the early churches of the Adriatic islands, because in the number and preservation of its pre-Romanesque churches the island leads southern Dalmatia.

The church was single-nave and rectangular, with an apse that is semicircular inside and rectangular outside. On the west facade corner lesenes stand out, together with a portal reached by three steps; the stone threshold remained in its original place. The wall mantle is not articulated, which is a feature of the south Dalmatian pre-Romanesque type, and finds of stone sculpture point to the 9th or 10th century. A marble fragment of a pediment with an inscription, made from a reused ancient sarcophagus, was later attributed to the altar screen of the nearby Church of St Michael. In the late Middle Ages a cistern was added on the north and a house on the south, and built tombs also date from that time. The church is first recorded in the 13th century, and after the 16th century it disappears from the documents.

A protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-6209.

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