Dragon's Cave (Dragonjina špilja), Murvica

High up, 349 metres above the settlement of Murvica on the southern side of the island of Brač, in the municipality of Bol, lies Dragonjina or Zmajeva Cave (Dragon's Cave). Visitors are drawn by the combination of a natural space, stone reliefs and the story of the hermits.

In the middle of the 15th century the hermits Juraj and Pavao Silvio, also called Dubravčić, from Nerežišća, lived in the cave. Nearby they built Pustinja Silvio, as a home for pious women known as picokare. In the first part of the cave a chapel was built, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and opposite it is a relief of a large dragon turned towards the moon, together with depictions of fantastic animals, hermits and Christian symbols. West of the cave, Pustinja Silvio is a complex of ruined single-storey stone buildings with the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The cave is a protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-4784. It is located in Split-Dalmatia County.

Photo: Martin Brož, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).