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LUMBARDA
A municipality with just over 1,000 inhabitants, six kilometres (east) from Korčula. It extends around a small bay and on the hills behind it, and is surrounded by large sandy vineyards. Lumbarda is reached along a good asphalt road that passes through a picturesque area of pine woods and olive groves. In the 3r century B.C. a Greek (Hellenistic) agricultural settlement was founded here from which originated the Psephism and the gnathia vases found in graves (now in the Town Museum). There was a Roman villa rustica (rural estate) in the field north-east of today's village near Bilin zal beach.Since the 16st century prosperous Korčula landowners built summer houses called kaštel on choice sites in Lumbarda, some of them still well preserved and inhabited: the Nobilo, Milina, Kršinić kaštels.
St Roch's parish church (Sv. Rok) with a nave and two aisles stands on Vela glavica hill in the middle of old Lumbarda, and there are several small old chapels in the village itself: St Bartul, St Peter, The Nativity of the Virgin (Mala Gospa). The church of the Holy Cross (Sv. Kriz) from 1774, in front of which is a characteristic porch, is surrounded by vineyards.
For centuries the people of Lumbarda were farmers, mostly grape growers, fishermen and stone-masons. Several prominent modern Croatian artists, sculptors and painters were born here: Ivo Lozica (1910-1943), Lujo Lozica (1934), Stipe Nobilo (1945), and the most important of all, Frano Krsinic (1897-1981). He made the bronze Second World War Memorial in the centre of the village and the bronze relief Fishermen on the hotel. Nearby is the studio-house and collection of the local amateur sculptor, the peasant Ivan Jurjev-Knez (1920), who works in stone and wood.
Today the local people are also engaged in tourism: there are hotels, several camps, many private pensions, restaurants, shops, and a small marina. The Ivo Lozica cultural and performing society in Lumbarda cultivates music, singing, folk dancing and amateur dramatics.
ŽRNOVO
Today Žrnovo has over 1,000 inhabitants, and it was first mentioned in documents in the early Middle Ages. It is 4 km from Korčula by wide asphalt road, which passes through the middle of this settlement scattered on surrounding hills, and composed of several hamlets: Prvo Selo, Kampuš, Postrana and Brdo. Beside the old stone houses with porches and paved courtyards are small dry-stone sheds covered with stone slabs. There are also several kaštels of the Korčula nobles and landowners. A little outside the centre of the settlement, off the road, on a shady hill surrounded by pines, is St Martin's parish church from the 14st century, later reconstructed.
Postrana hamlet on the hill slope has St Roch's church, and in front of it a paved square on which grow old Koštili trees. This is where the Moštra sword dance was traditionally held. The graveyard and the 13st century St Vitus's church are outside the village, and in it there are several more small old chapels. Kaštel Baničević belonged to a well-known noble family from Postrana and is well preserved. On the facade is a plaque with the family arms and a Latin inscription about the most prominent family member Jakov, who lived in the 16st century and was a well-known European humanist.
In the past the people of Žrnovo were farmers (vineyards, olives, vegetables) and stone-masons. Now many of them work in construction and tourism. The nearby coves (north shore) of Banji, Medvidnjak, Vrbovica have many modern family pensions and camps right beside the sea.In the past the people of Žrnovo were farmers (vineyards, olives, vegetables) and stone-masons. Now many of them work in construction and tourism. The nearby coves (north shore) of Banji, Medvidnjak, Vrbovica have many modern family pensions and camps right beside the sea.
The Mišnice cultural and performing society in Žrnovo cultivates amateur theatricals and folk dancing, and Bratska sloga investigates local traditions and folk lore. Some contemporary Croatian painters and sculptors were born in Žrnovo (Radoslav Duho-vic, sculptor, Nikola Skokandić, graphic artist, Ante Radovanović, Frano Cebalo, Abel Brčić, painters), and the most prominent is certainly the important Croatian writer, Academician Petar Šegedin.
RAČIŠĆE
This village with about 600 inhabitants is reached by asphalt road leading westward from Korčula along the seashore, curving around nearby bays, Medvidnjak, Banja, Vrbovica and Kneže, with beaches, camps and holiday houses. Traces of a Roman mosaic were found In the small formerly fishing village of Kneža, and of Roman buildings in Banja.
Račišće lies in a large sheltered bay at the end of this 12 km long road. It was founded in the 17st century when fugitives from the Turks moved here from Herzegovina and the Makarska coast. In the past the villagers were fishermen, bred livestock, farmed and sailed. Today they are mostly sailors.
The church of the Virgin (Bogorodica), with a small loggia in front, is from 1682. The present St Nicholas's parish church was built at the end of the 19th century.
PUPNAT
A village with about 600 inhabitants, about 13 km from Korčula. The road from Žrnovo winds up the middle of the island to a small dry valley in which this small village nestles between surrounding slopes. Its inhabitants were farmers and stock-breeders, but today many are also employed in construction, tourism and so on.
In the middle of the village is the church of Our Lady of Snow (Gospa od sniga), renewed and reconstructed several times. Nearby, on the graveyard, is St George's church (Sv. ]uraj) from the 15st century.
Continuing from Pupnat the new island road climbs quite high, affording breathtaking views of much of the southern island, especially Pupnatska luka (harbour) with thick pine woods, and the islands of Lastovo and Mljet. From the old road that winds along the slopes of the south shore the panorama is even more beautiful, and footpaths lead from it to the sea and Pupnatska luka.
ČARA
This typical old village of vine growers with about 700 inhabitants lies on the main island road 25 km from Korčula. It was built on the south slope of a hill under which spreads a large fertile polje covered with vineyards. A special species of grape grows here, called Pošip. The village has a wine cellar where a widely known wine of that name is made.
In the village centre stands St Peter's parish church from the 15st century, reconstructed many times. Its bell tower was completed in the 1920s. The main altar has the painting Christ Revealing Himself to the Apostles by the outstanding Venetian Renaissance artist Jacopo Bassano from the end of the 16th century. A great cypress tree several centuries old grows on the small paved square in front of the church. Like in the other island settlements, Korčula landowners and patricians built forti fied summer houses here and in the nearby bay of Zavalatica. In the polje in the midst of vineyards is the old and new graveyard with the votive church of Our Lady of Cara Field (Gospa od Carskog polja) from the 14st century, which got its present appearance in the Baroque period. On its altar is a predella with reliefs from the life of the Virgin. According to tradition, the sea washed these late-Gothic alabaster (earlier coloured) reliefs of English origin, from a 15st century Nottingham workshop, into the nearby Čavića luka bay, and there is also a legend about their miraculous arrival in Cara. The church is the main pilgrimage centre on the island of Korčula: on St James's Day, 25 July, there is a great ceremony here when a church procession walks around the whole of Čara field carrying the figure of the Virgin from the altar, followed by many islanders.
The Braća Crnomiri cultural and performing art society in Čara was named after legendary brothers who fought bravely for the rights of the serfs against the Venetian nobility and governor in ancient days.
The villagers are farmers and work in tourism. There are modern family pensions right beside the sea in the nearby south bay of Zavalatica (2 km of good road).
SMOKVICA
This small municipality has just over 1,000 inhabitants, and it is on the island road (29 km from Korčula). The village was built on the south slope of a hill beside spacious vineyards where Pošip grapes are grown. The large Neo-Romanesque church of The Purification of Our Lady (Gospino očišćenje) was designed by Oton Iveković and built in 1920 on the site of an older church. Beside it is a Baroque loggia surrounded by columns on all sides. In the village there were several patrician summer houses, and nearby there are several small early-medieval churches.
The Ante Čefara cultural and performing society in the village nurtures the music and local folk dance Kumpanija.
A side road leading south runs to two bays surrounded by pine woods. In the larger Brna there is a hotel and new small pensions and holiday houses, in neighbouring Istruga medicinal mud for treating rheumatic disorders.
The road continues westward beside the south shore passing by Prišćapac tourist village with lovely beaches, and then Prižba and Gršćica bays, where there are hotels in pine woods and many family pensions and houses. The road then climbs northward to the interior of the island and the large village of Blato.
BLATO
Blato is a municipal centre with about 4,000 inhabitants, reached by the main island road from Smokvica through the forests in the middle of the island. The village was amphitheatri-cally built on several hills around a small central valley. A long avenue of lime trees called Zlinj runs through it, along which public buildings were more recently built: school, hotel, bank, shops, municipal building, medical centre etc.
In the old centre south of Zlinj the church of All Saints (Svi Sveti) with a nave and two aisles stands on a large paved square. Documents mention it in the early Middle Ages, but later is was reconstructed several times. The present appearance and bell tower beside it are from the 17th-18th centuries, the Baroque period. On the main altar is the painting All Saints by the Venetian artist Girolamo Da Santa Croce, from 1540. Beside the altar are precious late-Renaissance carved choir stalls, and in the north aisle an intricately carved large altarpiece frame from the late 16' century.
St Vincenca the martyr's chapel was added to the south aisle in the 18' century, with a richly decorated marble altar, her relics and silver liturgical decorations. The day of this saint is on 28 April, and this is the day of the Blato Municipality. A large procession goes around the city, and the ceremonious Kumpanija is danced on the square in front of the church.
The building next to the church houses an art collection, valuable, documents, archaeological finds connected to the past of Blato, and especially of this church. On the square in front of the church is an open Baroque loggia with columns built in 1700. There is a large number of small churches and chapels in the city and the surroundings. The oldest is SS Cosmas and Damian (Sv. Kuzma i Damjan) from the 6st century (Early-Christian), followed by St Mary in the Field (Sv. Marijaupolju), St Martin and others.
Blato has new houses but also many old ones with paved courtyards, trellis work and sheds. Here, too, there were summer houses of the Koriula nobility, outstanding among which is the Baroque kastel Ameri in the town centre. It is to house the regional museum with archaeological, historical and ethnographic collections.
The inhabitants of Blato used to be farmers and craftsmen, today they are increasingly occupied in tourism and other branches of the economy, and there are also several small industrial plants: Radež, Trikop etc.
The Kumpanija Knightly Association is very active, cultivating the ritual sword dance with the same name and folk dancing, singing and the like. The Petar Milat cultural and performing society also nurtures music and folk dancing, and there are also many harmony-singing groups, brass bands and soon.
An asphalt road to the north shore passes through the old and new graveyards and leads to the large Prigradica harbour, were there is a hotel, several summer houses and small pensions beside the sea, and fine beaches nearby.
Several modern Croatian artists, cultural workers, scholars and musicians were born in Blato.
VELA LUKA
This is the largest town on the island, a municipality with almost 5,000 inhabitants, 42 km from Korčula by island road, which ends here. The town developed at the beginning of the 19st century in a deep sheltered bay. It has several hotels, and the Kalos medical centre for rheumatic disorders and rehabilitation. The inhabitants are farmers, fishermen, work in tourism, and the town also has the Greben shipyard, Jadranka fish factory, and other smaller industrial plants. The Cultural Centre in a renovated Baroque building, the old Kaštel summer house, has a fine pre-historic archaeological collection from the nearby Neolithic site Vele spilje, and from Roman localities in the surroundings of the town. The large private Anka Prizmić-Šega Gallery, opened in 1983, has many sculptures and paintings by this artist born in Vela Luka.
St Joseph's parish church is a Neoclassical building completed in 1848. The Way of The Cross, 15 small reliefs, were made by Anka Prizmić.
St Vicenza's chapel from 1589 was reconstructed several times. It has the bust of the priest Don Ivo Oreb, who did a lot for the cultural development of this town in the 20st century, by Anka Prizmic. At the top of the chapel is a bronze Pieta by the same sculptress.
The Hum cultural and performing society nurtures music and folk dancing, and choral singing. The town also has many harmony-singing groups. The best-known are Ošjak and Greben, whose excellent singing has ensured them success at concerts in Croatia and abroad.
Vela Luka is surrounded by many bays with fine beaches. The nearby forested islet of Ošjak is especially attractive.
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