Cultural and historical landmarks
Parish Church of St. Nicholas the Bishop in Barban
It was built in 1701 and fully completed in 1708. It was renovated in 1843, 1859, 1982 and 2010. It was created by repartitioning the northern part of the Barban castle, which was located in the very centre of the settlement.
The church is a single-nave Baroque building built on the site of an older Romanesque building that preceded the construction of the Barban castle. It has a raised sanctuary, a sacristy and five altars. The floor of the church was raised about 30 cm compared to the original one, which obscured part of the frescoes. The church contains a Gothic custodian from the 15th century (from the old church), a stone baptistery, a wooden statue of St. Nicholas, and on the consoles statues of the Sacred Heart and St. Anthony the Abbot. The stone altar faces the congregation, with a pulpit. The church has frescoes on the walls. The choir is located above the main entrance. The vault was painted with a painting depicting St. Nicholas in 1843.
Church of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Barban
It was built at the end of the 14th century in Romanesque style with elements of folk Gothic. It was renovated in 1922.
It is a brotherhood church with a slate roof. On the facade there is a stone distaff with one window, but no bell. On the walls and pointed vault there are frescoes from the beginning of the 15th century and numerous Glagolitic graffiti from the 16th century. The oldest pilgrimage records in Glagolitic date from 1420.
The frescoes contain depictions of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child, Saint Ursula, Saint Barbara, Saint Helena, Saint Blaise, Saint James and Saint Dionysius. On the side walls and on the vault, there are two bands of scenes from the life of Saint Anthony the Abbot, his death, burial, finding of the tomb, transfer to Byzantium and a scene of miraculous healing through his intercession.
Church of Saint James the Apostle in Barban
It was built at the end of the 14th century. On the facade there is a distaff with one window and a bell. The interior was painted in the third quarter of the 16th century with late Gothic frescoes by a local master. The wall painting above the altar depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary as a protector who covers the believers, members of the brotherhood, with her mantle. The frescoes depict the legend of Saint James, the only such cycle preserved in Istria. On the walls there are Glagolitic graffiti dating from the 16th century.
Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Carmel (from Oranica)
Church of the Holy Trinity (Sveta Nedelja) on Puntera
It was built as a church of a Benedictine abbey (mentioned in 740), and was renovated during the 15th and 18th centuries.
The church has a small inscribed semi-circular apse. On the facade there is a distaff and a single bell. Everywhere in Istria where there is a settlement of Sveta Nedjelja, the patron saint of the church is the Holy Trinity (Holy Trinity).
In 1555, there are mentions of lands, “on Krasa” or “Fratrije” (lat. fratres = brothers monks, according to the Benedictines), which – after the abolition of the abbey – the bishop of Pula leased.
The cultivators of the land had to maintain the church and provide for the priest. There is a plaque with a Latin inscription on the entrance door of the church, and under the altar painting of the Holy Trinity it is written that it was made in 1798 by Mate Antun Stanković from Barban.
Church of Saint Paul the Apostle on Mount Saint Paul between the settlements of Želiski and Bateli
It was built in the 15th century for the pastoral needs of Croatian families who had immigrated from Dalmatia. In 1860, the church was in ruins and without a roof, and was renovated at the end of the 19th and the end of the 20th centuries.
It has a very simple facade with a large stone Gothic portal and a double clerestory. On the facade there is a distaff with one window and a bell. The church has a stone altar in a small protruding apse.
A procession from Barban went to the church on the day of the conversion of Saint Paul (January 25th) and on the feast of Saint Paul (June 29th).
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Prnjani
It was built in 1857 on the site of an earlier church. It was expanded in 1742 (by decision of the Barban captain Feliks Barbat, as attested by an inscription) and renovated around 1831 and 1926.
On the facade there is a distaff with two windows and two bells. The main altar faces the congregation (it was built by Feliks Barbato). There is a sacristy in the church. This building was once the chaplain’s church of Prnjan.
ALTARS:
The main altar is marble with a tabernacle and a wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child, and the others are:
1. the marble altar of Saint Anthony of Padua from 1742;
2. the marble fraternity altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Belt.
Church of Saint Margaret, Virgin and Martyr, in Gubavica
It was built around 1300. It is 7 m long and 4.5 m wide. At that time, leprosy often ravaged Istria, and according to legend, there was a hospital for leprosy patients near this church, which is why the area is called Gubavica.It has a distaff on the facade. The church has a brick altar and walls painted with frescoes. In 1943, it was turned into a partisan prison and torture centre, from where the criminals threw their victims into a pit near the village of Trlji.
Church of Saint Peter the Apostle in Šajini
It was built in 1400 (according to tradition) and consecrated in 1688 by Bishop Bernardino Corniani. It was expanded in 1890 with a side chapel and completely renovated in 2002.
It is the former chaplaincy church of the now-defunct St. Peter’s chaplaincy in Šajine, which existed from 1750 to 1988.
On the facade there is a distaff with two windows and two bells. The main altar is made of stone and marble and has a tabernacle and a picture of Saint Peter. In the side chapel there is an altar with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The altar faces the congregation. There is a sacristy in the church. In addition to Saint Peter, to whom the main altar is dedicated, the Mother of God is venerated in the Šajini church, especially in a procession on the last Sunday in May (Majnica). Around 1890, the church acquired a wooden statue of the Mother of God that is carried in a procession around Šajini.
Church of Saint Martin the Bishop in Bičići
It was built in the 11th century and extended in 1315 (attested by an inscription). The inscription testifies that the renovation was initiated by Bobosius, or Martin Bobošić, the prefect of Barban.
It is believed that the oldest chapel stood 300 m further from the current one. The year 1761 is inscribed on the stone door of the church, when the door was enlarged and made of stone in the Baroque style. On the right inner wall, below the edge of the window, there is a fresco of the crucified Jesus, made in colours, in the Romanesque-Byzantine style, so it is significantly older than the consecration of the church.
In 1938, the church was in poor condition, as noted by the then clergyman from Bičić, Vinko Pereš. During World War II, it fell into ruin, but was later repaired, and mass has been celebrated there again since 1970.
The Church of St. Martin is mentioned in the Istrian Divorce, which calls it the Church of Opatija. The Church of St. Martin – whose estates were confiscated in the 1948 agrarian reform – belonged to the Šajina chaplaincy, so the Šajina chaplain used to go to Bičići to say mass every third Sunday and to give religious instruction.
The veneration of Saint Martin in our country spread during the Frankish rule (8th to 10th centuries), so the founding of the Benedictine abbey near present-day Bičići is also dated to that period.
On the facade there is a distaff with two windows and one bell. The church has frescoes from the 16th century, Glagolitic graffiti and a brick altar with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.
Did you know?
On the wall of the old lodge, at the entrance of today’s Multimedia Centre Barban, there is an interesting oyster with three hollows. Among other things, oil was measured in these oysters. This is a sign that olives were grown in area of Barban in the past. During the Venetian rule, the serfs had to give the feudal lords a part of the “harvest”. Let’s say that it used to be a form of “tax” that feudal lords levied on people.
Church of St. John the Baptist in Hrboki (non-existent)
It was built in the 14th or 15th century, and was located on a hill near the village of Hrboki.
People went to this church to celebrate mass on St. John’s Day, June 24, on the day of the death of St. John the Baptist, August 29, and on St. John the Evangelist, the third day of Christmas.
Until 1805, mass was also held on Easter. The brotherhood of the same name is also associated with this church.
Church of Our Lady of the Snows in Pisak (demolished)
It was a very ancient fraternity building.
The procession from the parish church went to this church on August 5th, the day of Our Lady of the Snows. The holiday originated according to the tradition that snow fell in Rome on August 5th, on the hill on which the church of St. Mary the Great was later built.
People also went to Pisak on the day of St. Foska, February 13th, until the church fell into ruin. Its ruin is recorded in the inventory from 1860, which states that only one part of the church’s walls remains.
From then on, the feast of Our Lady of the Snows and St. Foska was celebrated in the church of Our Lady of the Fields near Barban, which is dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Church of Saint Foška, Virgin and Martyr, in Pisak (demolished)
An ancient building in which Saint Foška was worshipped (February 13) until the church fell into ruin.
Church of Saint Saba the Abbot at the cemetery in Škitača (demolished)
Church of Saint Saba the Abbot at the cemetery in Škitača (demolished)
It was first mentioned in the Istrian Demarcation. Before the commission for determining inter-municipal borders, representatives of the Pula municipality, on behalf of the Pula abbot, presented a request to the people of Barban that they should compensate for the failure to provide grain in the name of the enjoyment of the land of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Saba (Sanbas).
The Barban representatives stated that they could provide grain, but they wanted the Pula abbot to recognize some rights related to the aforementioned land and church in return.
In 1586, the podestà of Vodnjan entered the estate of Saint Saba in the list of assets of his municipality, but at the request of Loredan, he had to return it to the people of Barban.
In 1664, a brotherhood was mentioned near the church of Saint Saba that took care of it.
In 1831, the church of Saint Saba was in ruins, so Bishop Antonio Petcani, during his visit, was asked to order the administration of the parish church in Barban to repair it, because the church – since it is in the middle of a cemetery – could be used for burials.
The land of the Abbey of St. Saba was sold in 1839, and the capitals were deposited with the chapter.
In 1840, the church was demolished, and the chapter thoroughly restored the ruined walls. As a result, the present-day cemetery on Škitača was significantly reduced, as part of the area of the old cemetery, where the church was located, probably remained outside the walls. While the church existed, the parish priest from Barban went there to celebrate mass fourteen times a year. There was a cemetery next to it (built in 1767).
Church of Saint Helen the Crusader in Prnjani (destroyed)
It was located in the so-called Jelenia region (named after this church), on a plateau above the bay leading to the valley of the Raša River, and next to ruins that could speak in favour of its antiquity.
This entire area (Jelenia region) was named after the titular of this church. The church is also mentioned in the record of the bishop’s visitation from 1664, which states that it was under the administration of the Brotherhood of St. Nicholas in Prnjani.
From 1756 to 1988, it was the chaplaincy church of the then chaplaincy of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Prnjani. Pilgrimages from Barban to this church took place on the feast of St. Jelena on May 22nd.
Church of Saint Eleutherius (Lutherius or Luther), pope and martyr, on Golešovo, (destroyed)
It is associated with the brotherhood of the same name. The church was built in the 14th or 15th century.
There is a folk legend about the three Rjavac brothers, one of whom had estates near St. Eleuterius, the other near St. John, and the third near St. Paul. When one of them needed help, he would ring the bell of his church to call his brothers.
The church of St. Eleuterius was demolished at the same time as the church of St. John, in 1843, during the renovation of the Barban cemetery.
Once upon a time, on May 26, a procession went from the Barban parish church to this church, where mass was held.
Church of the Holy Cross on the top of the Gradišće hill, in the Barban cemetery, (demolished)
The name Gradišće indicates that a prehistoric hillfort may have existed here. The church itself is connected to the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14.
An episcopal visitation from 1831 revealed that the Barban cemetery was then in poor condition and almost without a fence. Therefore, in 1843, a thorough renovation was undertaken. The cemetery was reduced in size and a stone fence was built, and the chapel of the Holy Cross was removed on that occasion.
The chapels of St. Eleuterius, St. John and the Holy Spirit were also completely demolished in the same year, and their stones were probably used to build the cemetery fence.
Church of the Holy Spirit next to the road leading from Barban Square towards the cemetery (non-existent)
It belonged to the brotherhood of the same name. In 1843, archpriest Rocco Antonio Capponi was buried there – in his family’s tomb.
It was completely demolished during the renovation and expansion of the Barban cemetery in 1843. The bell tower is built into the facade of the parish church. It was built in 1595 by adding to the medieval tower. It is 25 m high, divided into four parts, and has three bells in bifor openings.
