Visovac Monastery

Visovac Monastery

Samostan Visovac
250px Visovac Monastery
Monastery information
Order	Franciscans
Established	1445
Diocese	Franciscan Province of the Most Holy Redeemer
People
Founder(s)	Augustinian monks
Site
Location	Krka National Park Croatia.

The Visovac Monastery (Croatian: Samostan Visovac), part of the Franciscan Province of the Most Holy Redeemer based in Split, is a Catholic (Roman Rite) monastery on the island of Visovac in the Krka National Park, Croatia. Because of the centuries-long devotion to the Mother of God, Visovac is also called Mother of God Island.

History

Visovac was settled by Augustinian monks, who established a small monastery and church dedicated to the Apostle Paul in the 14th century. In 1445, it was enlarged and adapted by the Franciscans who settled here having withdrawn from parts of Bosnia with ordinary people, when the Turks had taken over there. A new monastery was built in the 18th century.

The oldest preserved part of the complex is from the 14th century. The monastery has an important archaeological collection of historic church clothes books and a rich library with several historical manuscripts, rare books, including particularly a rare incunabula of Aesop's fables (Brescia 1487) printed by the Lastovo printer Dobrić Dobričević, a collection of documents (the sultan's edicts) and a sabre belonging to Vuk Mandušić, one of the best-loved heroes of Serbian epic poetry.

Geography

The island has 17,376 m² of coastline. It has an oval shape about the size of 170 × 120 meters. The southeastern side of the island has an adjacent elongated shallow shelf of triangular shape. It is a 10-minute drive from Drnis, six kilometers from Skradin .

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Official site
• Krka National Park - Visovac