Our Lady of Tarac Fest
Church of Our Lady of Tarca is a modest, one-nave sacral building (a type of rural late-Romanic church) built on the site of an early Christian basilica and most probably built from the remains of the older church. In this church today, masses are held every year on a first Sunday of July, whose significance has lost exclusively religious frames and has become part of the tourist attractions of this area.
This was a large church (about 20×13 m) and it is difficult to believe that it served only local believers because traces of settlements serving such a large church were not found. It is more likely that it was a refuge for sailors in the sheltered bays of Šipan, Levrnake or Telašćice waiting for favorable sailing winds to sail the Adriatic. Only the apse and a part of the foundation are preserved from the church today. In the late Middle Ages, a church dedicated to Our Lady of Prayer was erected on her main ship, which the people named Our Lady of Tarac.
Every year on first Sunday in July a mass is held with the especial blessing of the Kornati fields and the sea. At that time, hundreds of ships with pilgrims from other parishes sail to Tarac from their harbors. This venerable procession of ships is one of the most beautiful and most interesting religious events in Croatia.
- Lokacija
- Kornati
