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The church of Our Lady of Tarac |
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The area around the field Tarac is doubtless the first colonised place in the Islands. A Neolithic axe was found at the neighbouring field Žejkovci, and both fields are surrounded with Liburnian cairns. In the 6th century, judging by everything, the fort Tureta was built on the hill above Tarac, and its garisson ensured safe navigation in the Kornat Channel. Tureta is the only fort from that period that was not destroyed, obviously because it was built at a location where there was no settlement, and the population did not reach for its stones. The fort is in a neglected state today. At the foot of the hill, and it seems at the same time, the church of St. Mary was built in the area between the small cove and the field. The answer as to which is older, the church or the fort, or whether they were perhaps built at the same time, has not been offered yet.
This was a large church (its dimensions are around 20 by 30 m) which probably served as safe haven for sailors who waited in the protected coves of Šipnat, Levrnaka or Telašćica for favourable conditions to resume their journeys. Only the apse and part of the church foundations remain to this day.
In the late Middle Ages a small church was built in its nave, devoted to Gospa od Pohođenja (The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary) but which the population names Gospe o' Tarca. The divine service and the blessing of the fields are held on the first Sunday in July. Hundreds of boats then hasten to Tarac. The votive procession of boats is one of the most beautiful and most interesting religious events in Croatia. |
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