|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After
a whole day spent on the beach or on other places that you have enjoyed
its not time to go to bed yet.Vela Luka invites you to get to know its
cultural eminence, events, exhibitions, festivals, night life and houndreds
of other things that are waiting to be discovered.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Vela
Spila (big cave) > |
|
| |
Vela spilja (Big cave)
is a prehistoric site located on the hill Pinski rat, 130 meters above
the Vela Luka Bay. The wide entrance to the cave on its southern side
and two openings in the ceiling afford enough daylight for work and sojourns
at the cave. The position of the cave, its dry interior and the 1500 square
meters of space inside the cave offered good living conditions in prehistoric
times. This site has been systematically excavated since 1974 and so far
an abundance of diverse finds has been discovered in the 5 meters
of intact layers indicating that the cave was inhabited from the pre-Neolithic
period and up until the present day.
|
| |
| Mountain
of Hum > |
|
| |
When we have enjoyed
ourselves to the full of swimming and the sea, there are many beautiful
and interesting areas in Vela Luka that are convenient for shorter and
longer excursions and walks and even for more serious mounteneer undertakings.
If you are in Vela Luka, you will notice from different points in the
town the highest rising ground in the south-southwest in that western
part of the island. That is Hum (377 altitude above sea-level), covered
in greenery of the Mediterranean vegetation .
|
| |
| Cultural
Centre > |
|
| |
The cultural centre
is situated in the inner centre of Vela Luka under the Parish church in
the old citadel of the family Franulovic. It is of greatest importance
for the town from the cultural and touristic point of view. Beside the
permanent set exhibition in the premises of the museum, this is the place
where the academic painters of Vela Luka and amateur painters as well
as artists from Croatia and the world exhibit their works. The archeological
discoveries from the Big Cave (Vela Spilja) are permanently exhibited
as well, and they are a big attraction and goal for the visits of foreign
and domestic tourists. The atrium of the citadel is the place of the cultural
events in Vela Luka – minor concerts, concerts of folk singer groups,
book promotions, etc.
|
| |
| The
Traditional Vela Luka Festival (Lusko Lito) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Regatta In Honour of St John > |
|
| |
Not even the oldest
residents of Vela Luka remember when the first regatta in honour of St.
John was held. The regatta is being held every year on June 24th from
the Gradina Bay to the center of Vela Luka. On the feast of St. John the
teams of the areas of Vela Luka take part and compete – male, female
and juniors. The boats are being decorated with greenery on both sides
and on the bow and the stern a bouquet of flowers is being put. Every
team has got its characteristic uniform. Among the regattas of Vela Luka
the most important is the one with the crew of the British warship H.M.S.
“CERES” from 1933.
|
| |
| Parish
Church > |
|
| |
The Parish church of
St. Joseph is situated on a largish stoned, patterned higher square where
on the western side ascend semicircled stairs. Two cypresses grow on both
sides of the entrance to the square, which is fenced from the west and
the north by a small stone wall. In the southwest corner of the square
stands the high bell-tower, that, upon the first idea, had to be built
behind the church in the axis of an apse. Judging the architectonic and
artistic worthness of the church in Vela Luka it is necessary to differ
two facts: the project of the building and the substance the object is
made of.
|
| |
| Exhibition
Gallery of Anka Prizmic-Sege > |
|
| |
|
In
the gallery of Anka Prizmic is the rich and deversifed work of this artist
represented with her best and strongest acts. For her artistic and humanitarian
work and her love for Vela Luka Anka Prizmic was awarded with the “Award
for her life achievemnet of the community of Vela Luka” in 1995.
Anka named the gallery a “Temple of Art” and she donored all
of us and above all, her hometown Vela Luka. The gallery is a place where
we can see not only the numerous artistic valuables of her creativity
but also the testimony of the truthful love and faith in human kind.
|
| |
| Mosaics
> |
|
| |
 |
The
events, which left a deep and lasting imprint in the cultural and artistic
life of Vela Luka in the second half of the 20th century were without
any doubt, the International Artists Meetings initiated in 1968. After
the successful termination of the First International Meeting, this small
town recived in permanent ownership nearly seventy mosaics-tablets, a
number of which was arranged and built into a memorial mosaic-wall in
the centre of Vela Luka, some given to local companies and public institutions
and the remaining later fitted in to semicircular openings and the floor
of the atrium of the Cultural Centre, thus creating both an exhibition
space and the decor of the building which once housed the local school.The
idea of organising the International Artists Meetings in Vela Luka was
born in 1967 and carried through ih the organisation of the Community
Education Centre and with the financial support of business organisations
from Vela Luka. The project envisaged the joint creation of mosaics and
it brought together a large number of domestic and foreign artists. Their
names are inscribed in the mosaics located in the centre of Vela Luka.
|
| |
| Chapel
of Saint Vincense |
|
| |
The chapel of St. Vincense
was built by the family Izmaeli in 1589. as a family chapel on their ground
close to the citadel Izmaeli. It got its name after St. Vinko-Vincenso
Ferer (St. Vincenzo Ferer), a dominicanian from Valencia in Spain who
lived from 1350. to 1419. Until the erection of the parish church of St.
Joseph in 1848., the chapel St. Vincense was used by the residents of
Vela Luka for divine service.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
On top of the small
island St. John (Gradina Bay) there is the church
of St. John, a one-fold building with a bell-tower on distaff in the middle
of the front and a gothic arch in the interior. It was already mentioned
in documents from the 15th century and upon oral tradition and remains
of the destroyed walls, it is supposed that on this place there was a
Benediction monastery with a church.
|
| |
| St.
George (Juraj) |
|
| |
It is situated not
far from the Tri Porte bay on a high hill,
and it is prominent in the landscape. It has small dimensions, a rectangular
ground plan, without an apsidal. On the narrow high facade stand a small
bell-tower on distaff with an opening for one bell. The simple entrance
frame roofs over the inclined profiled over entrance, and on both sides
of the entrance there are small windows. The chapel is plastered from
the outside, and the double-eave roof is covered with tile. A marble classical
roman sarcophagus was used as an altar. It must have been found near that
place. The chapel is mentioned in the land-register of the community of
Korcula from the year 1427.
|
| |
| Chapel
of Saint Kuzma and Damjan |
|
| |
A few kilometres away
from Vela Luka on the way to Blato in the region of “Zablace”
is the chapel of “St. Kuzma and Damian” situated. It was built
in the first half of the 11th century on the basements of an earlychristian
chapel from the 5th century. The chapel from the 5th century was built
on the remains of a chatedral of a roman town that was situated in that
region.
|
| |
| Church
of the Maid of Health |
|
| |
 |
The church of the Maid
of Health was built as a votive church at the end of the 19th century
(1886). It is situated close to the sea and it points out with its locality
and the expertise of its building. It is a rectangular single-boarded
church with a rectangular sacrity that was built up later at the end of
the church. It is built of beautifully carved and in regular lines piled
stone from Vrnik. The simplified classicistic main altar is built from
stone and marble with columns that carry a triangle prick. There is the
big picture of "Mary's Visit to the Temple" by Ferdinand Monaccelli
from Rome, made around the year 1888. On the northern walls is the neo-gothic
altar of St. Franciscan situated, and on the southern wall is the neo-baroque
stone altar with the picture of "The Rose Maid" made by the
Dominican painter Vinko Draganja. In the nearby niche is the copper bust
sculpture of don Ivan Oreb, a piece of art made by Anka Prizmic, and along
the western wall above the entrance is a simple wooden choir place.
|
| |
| Chapel
of the Maid of Conception |
|
| |
The chapel of the Maid
of Conception is situated in the bay of Kale (Vela Luka), not far from
the coast. It was built by the family Tabain in 1885 and their inherit
ants still take care of the chapel. This small building with symmetrical
proportions is situated on a concrete plateau and a couple of stairs lead
to it. It has a rectangular ground-plan with a shallow apsidal and it
is oriented north to south and built from bigger, regular built stone-quadrants.
The altar is built from stone and decorated by geometrically shallow relief
carved motives. The altar column is in fact a plaster niche in which is
the worth picture of "The Immaculate Conception" placed, a piece
of art made by the Dominican painter Vinko Draganja
|
| |
|
Chivalrous Tournament “Kumpanija” |
|
| |
The island of Korcula
is known for its numerous chivalrous tournament unions, that are engaged
and during different occasions perform old chivalrous tournaments with
swords. Thanks to the members of the Initial council, the hardworking
and persisting practise of about twenty young men and husbands of Vela
Luka, on March 19th 2001, on the feast of St. Joseph, that is celebrated
as the day of the community of Vela Luka as well, exactly after 75 years,
the tournament “Kumpanija” of Vela Luka was solemnly performed
again. Besides the already mentioned renewal performance of the F.D. “Kumpanija”,
it took part in:
- On July 4th on the
international festival of chivalrous tournaments in Korcula,
- On September
2nd on the September Sunday events in Dubrovnik,
- Under the
organisation of the town council of Alicante and the Consulate of the
Republic of Croatia in Madrid.
|
| |
|
| |
