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Find your stone
The stone here is both the bread and the cross. Since ancient times, the strong hands of stonemasons have embraced it and listened to its song. The stone here speaks and pleads. The stone comforts and soothes. The stone rings. And everywhere you look, you will see a stone. There are stone thresholds, stairs, roads, houses and roofs. The graves are also made of stone.
Looking for stone for his projects, the famous builder Andrea Alessi came to Pučišća. He found the best stone in the Veselje cove and on May 2, 1455, he signed a contract for the lease of land in order to open a quarry. Although stone was quarried in Pučišća as early as the time of the ancient Romans, this date in a way marked the beginning of organized stonework in Pučišća.
In addition to Alessi, the greatest masters of that era, Giorgio da Sebenico and Niccolo di Giovanni Fiorentino, often came to Pučišća for stone and hired Pučišća locals for their construction projects. Soon the people of Pučišća became excellent stonemasons and builders themselves. The most significant of them was Trifun Bokanić. The fact that at the age of 22 he was entrusted with the construction of the last floor of the bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Lawrence in Trogir shows his skill. He died in 1609 at the age of 35, and left behind dozens of outstanding works, especially in Trogir and Hvar. Over the centuries, numerous churches and palaces in Dalmatia and Italy, and later in other parts of the world, from the Levant to the New World, were built from Pučišća stone: the Parliament and the New Palace in Vienna, part of the Parliament in Budapest, and a lot of evidence indicates that the White House in Washington was partly built with it. A favorite is the magnificent Šibenik Cathedral of St. Jacob, the ultimate achievement of Renaissance architecture in Dalmatia.
The great tradition of stonemasons and builders from Pučišća is preserved today by the Stonemasonry School founded in 1909. It is unique in the world, and it still preserves the traditional Roman technique of manual stone processing. If you visit its workshop, you will find students working on stone with the same tools used by stonemasons two thousand years ago!
If you then return to the center of town and head to the colorful stands, you will find some of the richest selection of stone souvenirs in this part of Europe. You will find your stone which will remind you of Pučišća forever!
CONTACT
Official Pučišća Tourist Board
Trg Hrvatskog skupa 1
21412 Pučišća
OIB: 18998435853
Tel: +385 21 633 555
E-mail: tz@pucisca.hr
© 2023 by Official Pučišća Tourist Board
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