Rogoznica sights

 

Dragon's eye

 

The lake of Dragon's eye, with seawater. Measuring approximately 10,000 m², the lake is surrounded with vertical cliffs height of 4 to 24 meters above sea level. It assumes that it is from meteor source because of its straight (round) shapes. Over the centuries, it has happened that the lake "boils," or, as scientists say, there is a rollover of the water column. This unusual natural phenomenon inspired locals to invent different legends. One story tells of the dragon Murin, the illegitimate son of Hera and Poseidon, who ruled the polis of Heraclea from his palace on the island of Velika Smokvica. He protected the inhabitants from invaders and marauders, and in return every year, on the longest day of the year, the people had to give him the most beautiful girl for a wife. Unfortunately, no one survived the first wedding night. Legend says that on June 20th, on the winged horse Pegasus, a hero descended called Aristoles, great-grandson of the Argonauts’ Jason. He fell in love with a girl who was supposed to wed the cruel dragon the next day. The young hero challenged the dragon to a duel and mortally wounded the beast with a spear made by the powerful goddess Athena with lunar dust and the help of Hephaestus. As he lay dying, Murin dug out his own eyes with his claws. One of them he threw far beyond the island of Mljet, and the other slipped under his feet and melted the rock. Water filled the pit and formed a lake, which came to be called Dragon's Eye. Furthermore, legend says that since that time, each loving couple that makes swim in this lake gets a warranty of eternal love. The inhabitants of Rogoznica swim in the lake, the kids jump from the rocks, and some believe that the lake has beneficial effects on health. Be sure to visit it and take a jump if you like.

 

Sacral heritage

 

The parish of Rogoznica is rich with religious buildings. Two churches have been exceptional in their preservation of local religious heritage. One is dedicated to the bishop of Trogir, St. John. Two kilometers southeast from Rogoznica on cape Planka, in the year 1332., the church of St. John of Trogir was built as a gratitude for the miraculous event. According to the legend, the ship in which St. John (bishop of Trogir in 1062.) was together with King Koloman, wrecked near Cape Planka. St. John of Trogir has saved all the sailors and cargo miraculously walking on the sea surface, without wetting his feet.

 

The most fascinating building is the Church of St. Nicholas, dating from the fourteenth century, though archaeologists and historians believe it is even older. Surrounding the Church of St. Nicholas is an old Croatian graveyard from the thirteenth century. On its unusual tombstones, typical lunar and astral symbols are accompanied by symbols of tools. Particularly interesting is the front surface of the stone, on which traces of a Latin inscription written in the Gothic style, uncommon on tombstones, can be seen. The Church of St. Nicholas is protected by the Law on the Protection of the Monuments of Croatia.

 

The parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, also known as the Church of the Assumption, is likewise protected by the Law on the Protection of the Monuments of Croatia. It was built in the early seventeenth century in honor of St. Nicholas. The parish of Rogoznica is special in many other ways, too. It houses the only small cathedral built in Dalmatia, wider than it is long. The cathedral is rich with valuable works of art, including a cross from the fourteenth century that is not available for public viewing and an intricate artistic figure of a shepherd from the Nativity, brought from Rome in 1905 by former pastor Ivan Katalinić.

 

At the tip of the Gradina peninsula is a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Chapel, the legend of the miraculous image was connected to its worship. According to legend, fisherman Ivan M. Bogovic Tumburko, while he was fishing around the Cape peninsula Gradina in 1722., saw an unusual light. When he approached the rock from which the light was coming, he found a picture of Our Lady. He carried the painting home and put it in a chest, but she inexplicably returned to the same place. And it has been repeating so three times. Soon the villagers together with the local priest have decided to build a chapel in the village. Since 1776. the ceremony is being held in which the image of Our Lady of the Chapel is being transported by ship, accompanied by priests and young girls dressed in white robes, to Rogoznica's waterfront, where is being greeted by Sibenik's bishop. Afterwords image is being followed in procession to the parish church. The picture remains in the parish church until the first Sunday after Our Lady of Mount Carmel, when it's being returned by the sea and land in the solemn procession to its sanctuary on the tip of the peninsula Gradina. There are hundreds of boats and thousands of believers that are being involved in the procession.