Luki, Guardian of Hvar's Treasures: St. Luke's Chapel

Published in About Animals

Luki and his two-legged pet parent Ivica love their native land deeply and unreservedly.

Luki watching over St. Luke's Chapel Luki watching over St. Luke's Chapel Photo: Ivica Drinković

In their three years together, Ivica has introduced Luki to many of the endless delights which Hvar has to offer. Culture, sacral sites and historical heritage feature large in their explorations. Luki has visited many of the little chapels and ancient ruins which are dotted around the island. The dotting isn't haphazard, each has a reason for being where it is.

'Carkvica'. Photo: Ivica Drinković

St. Luke is Luki's namesake. About 4 km east of Jelsa is a tiny Medieval chapel on the seaboard dedicated to St. Luke the Evangelist, which Luki and Ivica often visit to pay their respects. Known as "Carkvica" ('little chapel') in dialect, it is situated in a bay known as either Uvala "Carkvica" or Uvala Sv. Luke. From its construction it is thought to date from the 11th century CE, although it also contains some stylistic characteristics which might date from a later time. The altar is Baroque, and the statue of St. Luke the Evangelist dates from the 16th century.

The altar. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The chapel measures just 7.2 by 4 metres, and has a single nave with a square apse at its east end, and the doorway at the west end. The facade is topped by a simple belfry for a single bell, but now empty. The building is reinforced by the later addition of three buttresses on its northern side which prevent it from collapsing, a real danger, given that it was built on very steep rocky ground, on the shore just one metre above sea level. The internal walls contain buttresses linked by arches which form shallow recesses and support the barrel vault. Extra support for the vault is provided by two flanges arising from the two central buttresses.

Graffiti defaced the internal walls. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

In its isolated position, the chapel suffered badly not only from dilapidation caused by the relentless battering of the damp salty winds and other weather effects, but also from vandalism. In 2006 Jelsa's Parish Priest Don Stanko Jerčić initiated a project to clean the building up and protect it from further devastation. On May 12th that year the Split office of the Croatian Ministry for Culture issued a Resolution placing the chapel under 'preventive protection'. Also in 2006, the first annual pilgrimage was organised to celebrate Mass at the chapel on the feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist, which falls on October 18th.

Interior with part of vault. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

In 2008 the then Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts, Slavomir Drinković, a native of Jelsa, announced that his Insititution was willing to act as patron for the renovation of the chapel. Students and teachers would carry out research, renovation and conservation work. The plan included the restoration of the statue of St. Luke; creating a new altar, candle holders, a chalice, and a new door; renovation of the belfry with a new bell; and restoration of the terrace in front of the chapel to be decorated with a large mosaic in the best tradition of votive illustration. Sadly, Slavomir Drinković died in December 2016, and the project has not been completed to date. Don Stanko is still pressing the authorities to bring the work to completion. Some essential works were done, mainly in 2011. Most importantly, the doorway was renovated, with new stone surrounds brought from the Jadrankamen stoneworks on Brač. They were shipped over by Božo Gamulin in his trusty beautiful wooden boat 'Đani', which has served for fishing as well as transport, and during the summer is well used for tourist trips, especially to Bol.

Božo Gamulin, with Đani and tourists in Bol. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The local parishioners all gave their efforts freely. The building works were carried out by Pjero Grgičević and Jurko Bunčuga 'Ćugo', while the land around the chapel was made good by Marko 'Fanko'. In the course of the preliminary works, human remains were found by the south wall, an unpleasant surprise.

The new door, an invaluable gift. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The door itself was a welcome donation from the National Academy of Art in Sofia, Bulgaria, by agreement with the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts. Made of the prized hardwood Siberian larch with stained glass in the shape of a cross, it was designed by Professor Petar Bonev, Head of the Woodcarving Department, and Professor Nikolay Drachev, Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty. Organizing the donation and creating the door were apparently the easiest parts of the project. When the door was imported customs officials created numerous problems, giving both donors and recipients a lot of grief. As Don Stanko remarked drily, the bureaucrats had obviously not heard of the expression 'never look a gift horse in the mouth', when they wasted time and energy 'counting this gift horse's teeth'. It was with relief that the new door was installed in time for the Mass on St. Luke's feast day on October 18th 2011.

Don Stanko celebrating Mass at St. Luke's Chapel, 2013. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The celebration of St. Luke's feast as an annual Mass was instituted in 2006. It is a charming event, held in front of the chapel with the congregation spread around the area. When the weather is bad, with high winds and rough seas, the chapel can't be reached. Most years, the weather is fine on October 18th, as it was in 2013, when a number of parishioners made the journey along the coast to celebrate St. Luke in the bright sunshine.

The path leading to the chapel. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Most people walked the last part of the route along the seashore path, which is flanked by the remains of an Antique Roman villa. The lucky few, such as the saint's namesake Luka Bunčuga, together with some of his family,  had the luxury of arriving by boat.

Luka and family arriving by boat. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The congregation gathered happily around the chapel, enjoying the beautiful surroundings to the full on that lovely day.

Relaxing in peace before the Mass. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

In the absence of the new bell, a bell was brought in from Jelsa and rung by Božo Gamulin to herald the start of the Mass.

Božo Gamulin signalled the start of the Mass. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

After the Mass, many of the congregation went foraging for the edible wild plants and herbs which abound on Hvar in the places which aren't blighted by chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Post-Mass foraging. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Then it was time for the majority to retrace their steps along the path to where their vehicles were parked, taking the bell with them for safe keeping.

Wending the way home. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Luki is generally tolerant of human shortcomings, but one thing he can't stand or understand is people's carelessness with rubbish. It is horrifying to come across illegal dumps when walking through what should be unspoilt natural countryside. 

Luki bewildered by a man-made mess. Photo: Ivica Drinković

Those of us who are on Luki's wave-length hope that the efforts to revive Hvar's hidden treasures will result in a widespread clean-up operation, and put an end to fly-tipping. A new approach is needed to persuade the environment wreckers that it is in their interests to dispose of all rubble and waste at the official designated sites. Illegal dumps should be cleared as soon as they appear, otherwise they generate ever-increasing amounts of rubbish.

Luki revels in Hvar's beauty. Photo: Ivica Drinković

Stop the reckless 'out of sight, out of mind' philosophy! Hvar is an exquisitely beautiful island, and it's up to all of us to keep it that way. Pristine sea and an unspoilt natural environment should be Hvar's realities, not just empty words.

© Vivian Grisogono, April 2020.

With special thanks to Jelsa's Parish Priest and Vicar General Don Stanko Jerčić for providing the information about the chapel's history, and to Ivica Drinković for allowing the use of his splendid photographs.

 

You are here: Home about animals Luki, Guardian of Hvar's Treasures: St. Luke's Chapel

Eco Environment News feeds

  • A slew of global leaders met in the south of France to discuss the future of the oceans. There was ‘momentum’ and ‘enthusiasm’, but there were critical voices too

    The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope … and we are all in the same boat.” So said Jacques Cousteau, the French explorer, oceanographer and pioneering film-maker, who notably pivoted from merely sharing his underwater world to sounding the alarm over its destruction.

    Half a century later, David Attenborough, a year shy of his 100th birthday, followed Cousteau’s trajectory. In the naturalist’s acclaimed new film, Ocean, which highlights the destructive fishing practice of bottom trawling, he says he has come to the realisation that the “most important place on Earth is not on land but at sea”.

    Continue reading...

  • Among other concerns, the US military parade will produce as much pollution as created to heat 300 homes for a year

    Donald Trump’s military parade this weekend will bring thousands of troops out to march, while dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers roll down the streets and fighter jets hum overhead.

    The event has prompted concern about rising autocracy in the US. It will also produce more than 2m kilograms of planet-heating pollution – equivalent to the amount created by producing of 67m plastic bags or by the energy used to power about 300 homes in one year, according to a review by the progressive thinktank Institute for Policy Studies and the Guardian.

    Continue reading...

  • Continue reading...

  • Welfare of sows confined to farrowing crates was compromised and they displayed signs of extreme stress, experts say

    The use of restrictive pens to temporarily house pregnant pigs in the UK severely compromises their welfare, can traumatise them and should be banned, experts have said.

    Analysis by Animal Equality UK of footage collected from a farm in Devon showed that three pregnant sows in farrowing crates spent more than 90% of their time lying down, with one not standing up at all for a day. On average, between them they bit the bars (a sign of extreme stress) more than once an hour.

    Continue reading...

  • When historian Galo Ramón uncovered a long-forgotten pre-Incan water system in Ecuador, he set about restoring it, and helped transform the landscape and livelihoods

    One day in 1983, while studying a hand-drawn map from 1792 of his home town in Ecuador, Galo Ramón, a historian, came across a dispute between a landowner and two local Indigenous communities, the Coyana and the Catacocha. The boundary conflict involved an ancient lagoon, depicted on the map.

    “The drawing depicted a lagoon brimming with rainwater,” says Ramón. Ravines were depicted forming below the high-altitude lagoon, indicating that it supplied watersheds further down – contrary to the typical flow where a watershed feeds into the lagoon.

    Continue reading...

  • Burbage, Derbyshire:National parks and the countless marvels they contain should be as they were originally intended – free to all

    There’s a tiger burning brightly in front of me – not in the forests of the night, but on a Derbyshire moor, among the heather and bilberry, and in warm sunshine. It isn’t orange and black, but an iridescent green, and I need to hunker down to reach its level.

    The green tiger beetle is widespread in Britain, and at least to the ants and caterpillars that it predates, it is every bit as threatening as the big cat immortalised by William Blake. Magnified, its fearful symmetry becomes more apparent, its mouth parts ferocious, the dandyish purple of its elegant legs more richly obvious.

    Continue reading...

  • Sale covering 56,000 square miles set to go ahead despite opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups

    The Brazilian government is preparing to stage an oil exploration auction months before it hosts the Cop30 UN climate summit, despite opposition from environmental campaigners and Indigenous communities worried about the environmental and climate impacts of the plans.

    Brazil’s oil sector regulator, ANP, will auction the exploration rights to 172 oil and gas blocks spanning 56,000 square miles (146,000 sq km), an area more than twice the size of Scotland, most of it offshore.

    Continue reading...

  • From fungi-based wall panels to 3D printed bricks made of seaweed, biomaterials are increasingly being used in construction. But how close are they to a home near you?

    The average person might simply see green goop, but when Ben Hankamer looks at microalgae, he sees the building blocks of the future.

    Prof Hankamer, from the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, is one of a growing number of people around the world exploring ways living organisms and their products can be integrated into our built environment – from algae-based bricks to straw or fungi wall panels, and render made from oyster shells.

    Continue reading...

  • Already controversial because of extra fixtures and Fifa involvement, the new tournament in the US is likely to be played in temperatures above 30C

    Across this weekend, the US National Weather Service is predicting “moderate” heat risk for Miami and Los Angeles. With temperatures likely to exceed 30C, the agency warns “most individuals sensitive to heat” will be affected, a group that contains those “exercising or doing strenuous activity outdoors during the heat of the day”. This weekend is also when the Club World Cup begins.

    When Lionel Messi and Inter Miami kick off the tournament on Saturday night against Al Ahly of Egypt it will be 8pm in Miami and, although the humidity is predicted to be high, the day’s peak temperatures will have passed. Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid, however, will play under the full height of the California sun on Sunday, with their Group B fixture a midday kick-off at the famously uncovered Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

    Continue reading...

  • Research looked at records of 14,800 people in Bradford to see what happened after they moved to more polluted area

    What happens to your mental and physical health when you move to an area with worse air pollution? That’s the subject of a fascinating new UK-based study.

    Prof Rosie McEachan, the director of NHS Born in Bradford, asked: “Do already unhealthy communities, who are often poorer members of our society, end up in unhealthier environments because no one else wants to live there; or is it the places themselves that are making people ill?”

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds