Supetar

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Supetar
town
Supetar Harbor
Supetar
Location of Supetar in Croatia
Supetar
Location of Supetar in Split-Dalmatia County
Coordinates: 43°23′04″N 16°33′19″E / 43.38444°N 16.55528°E / 43.38444; 16.55528
Country  Croatia
County Split-Dalmatia county
Island Brač
Government
  Mayor Dinko Hržić (HDZ)
Area
  Total 30 km2 (10 sq mi)
Elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Population (2011)
  Total 3,326
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 21 400
Area code(s) 021
Licence plate ST
Website supetar.hr

Supetar (Italian: San Pietro della Brazza) is a town and a city on the northern side of the Dalmatian island of Brač, in the Split-Dalmatia County, in Croatia. It became the island's official centre in 1827.[1] The City of Supetar includes the town Supetar and the three villages Splitska, Škrip and Mirca.

With a population of 3,326, it is the island's largest and fastest-expanding town with dozens of apartments being built every year. It is accessible via 45 minute ferry via Jadrolinija from the mainland city of Split. The official language is Croatian, however most inhabitants also speak English, Italian and German.

History

Old Supetar was situated on the small peninsula where there is now a graveyard. The settlement came to an end during the early Christian era. In the late Middle Ages a new settlement started around the bay known as St. Peter's, from which the town derives its name. It originated from the Latin S.v Petar during the Latin population of the town. "Sv" stands for "Sveti", meaning saint, therefore it takes its name from Saint Peter, which is the name's English equivalent translation.

The present settlement of Supetar was founded in the 16th century when people living in Nerežišča, about 8 kilometres (5 miles) inland, began to use it as their harbour. The town's main period of development occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries when Supetar took over from Nerežišča as the administrative centre of the island of Brač.[2]

The town

Supetar Harbor at dusk

The Parish church of St. Peter (Sveti Petar) stands on the side of an old chapel which was restored in 1773 in a Baroque architectural style. At that time it also received a new aisle and bell tower. It was extended in 1887. In the church there are paintings by the local artist Feliks Tironi from the second half of the 18th century and a Baroque altarpiece by an unknown Venetian artist of the 18th century.

In the old part of the church there are some gravestones with Croatian inscriptions and at the entrance to the church there is a font made of two large Gothic capitals. On the left of the church building there is a sundial and beneath it a sarcophagus with the date 1774 engraved. In the Sunday school classrooms there are paintings from the Venetian era (16th and 17th centuries). The well, decorated with reliefs, is the work of Johannes Mazzonius from 1734.

Supetar graveyard beside the Chapel St. Nicholas (Sveti Nikola Putnik) there are two old Christian sarcophagi and several gravestones (Pieta), which are the work of Ivan Rendič of Supetar (1849–1932), and the mausoleum of the Petrinovič family with portraits and sculptures, by the sculptor Toma Rosandič (1878–1958).

Supetar in the news

Slobodna Dalmacija daily recently reported that a housing development called Adriatica is being built in McKinney, Texas, USA, as a partial faithful replica of Supetar.[3]

References

  1. Naklada Naprijed, The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide, pg. 274, Zagreb (1999), ISBN 953-178-097-8
  2. Jane Foster, Footprint Croatia, pg. 237, Footprint Handbooks (2004), ISBN 1-903471-79-6
  3. A Million Dollars for a Villa in American Supetar, article on Adriatica McKinney in Slobodna Dalmacija (Croatian)

External links

Coordinates: 43°23′04″N 16°33′19″E / 43.38444°N 16.55528°E / 43.38444; 16.55528

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