2023Croatian Marian Shrines (C) - Set

The shrine of Our Lady of the Islet in Solin
The church of Our Lady of the Isle in Solin is the largest shrine in southern Croatia. This is also the oldest Marian shrine in Croatia. In 1998, it was even visited by the Pope John Paul II. An islet surrounded by the delta of the river Jadro, on which the church is located, is a neat little continent: its surface area is disproportionately tiny compared to the depths of its time. Some hypotheses say this islet is the first place that was settled by the Croats when they first arrived in this region: the existing Roman walls could provide their settlement with protection. Beneath and around the present-day church, one can find layers and layers submerged in centuries. In the 10th century, the Croatian Queen Helena the Glorious (+976), the wife of King Michael Krešimir and the mother of King Stephen Držislav, decided to erect two churches on the Roman ruins: the church of St. Mary and St. Stephen. Thomas the Archdeacon (1200–1268), an annalist from Split, also mentions Helena’s construction projects. St. Mary’s Church was the church for the coronation of Croatian kings while St. Stephen’s Church was their final resting place. It was a three-nave basilica with rectangular pillars, twenty-three meters long, ten meters wide, including a narthex and a porch, in which, according to legend, seven kings were buried. Sources also say that the Benedictines maintained the church in the 13th century. It was likely abandoned and razed during the Ottoman wars in the 16th and the early 17th century. A new church was built before 1670, which was destroyed in a fire in 1875. The construction of a new church in its stead commenced in 1878.