Cultural, Historical and Urban Ensemble of Jelsa

Jelsa is a place at the head of a bay on the northern side of Hvar, in Split-Dalmatia County. It offers visitors a walk through the old town center, which descends like a fan toward the harbor.

The historical skeleton of the settlement was formed from groups of houses that arose around churches. On a rise above the main square, in the center of the place, stands the parish church. In the 15th century the area around the church of St. John took shape, with Renaissance and Baroque buildings, and the settlement spread down the slope of Banski dolac. Along the central street stand Baroque buildings, and in the wider area rural ones. On the slope of the Burkovo hill stands the church of St. Michael, around which Mala banda developed, with residential and farm complexes. The shoreline of Mala and Vela banda consists of a uniform facade of buildings from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, and in the middle of the bay a large park has been laid out.

The ensemble is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-5705.

Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: DGU (centre of the settlement).