Podaca is a
tourist locality situated in the south part of the Makarska
riviera at the foot Of Mt Biokovo, about 35 km distanc from
Makarska .The locality is divided in three
hamlets:Kapec,Viskovica vala and Ravanje. Nowadays, Podaca
as a part of the Makarska littoral is completely oriented
towards tourism .
There are about 660 inhabitants living at Podaca
mainly engaged in toursm.The locality has available about
1100 beds in private rooms , apartments and suits, ca. 300
beds in the tourist village Morenia and about 600
accommodation units at the camping site "Uvala borova" (The
pine bay). Beautiful beaches in the peacefulness of the
pinewood and the gastronomic offer of Dalmatian folk –
cuisine as well as the vicinity of attractive daytrip
destinations make Podaca a very desirable place for
vacation.
Podaca has developed upon the rocky slopes of
Biokovo,in a position suitable for defence,and its history
reaches far into the Stone Age which is documented by
archeological finds, such as a stone grain mortar preserved
in the Franciscan monastery at Zaostrog .
There are many burial mounds at the foot of Biokovo
as a testimony of times when this area was inhabited by the
Illyrians (2000 BC – Ist-century). At the times of the Roman
Empire this area was governed by Narona, which is documented
by many archeological finds, such as a broken um with a
silver coin of the Roman emperor Severio (193.-211.AD) found
in this region. A testimony of those times is also a wall
fragment next to which was also found a medieval stone
capital very similar to the capitals of our early Croatian
churches.
When the Croats during the great movement of the
peoples setted in the Makarska littoral (the
6th-8th-centuries) they had inhabited also this region, but
high above in the slopes of the mountain for easier defence
and also in order to make good use of the Biokovo pastures.
In this region the Croats had constantly fought battles
against the Venetians and the Croatian maritime power
reached its peak during the era of the Kacic clan from Omiš,
and their fall (in 1280) was also the end of the Croatian
maritime power.
At Gornja Podaca, dating from the 11th and
12th-centures, there is the early Croatian church of St.
John with the tombs of the Kacic family, which was a votive
foundation of the Kacic family. St.John's church in the
Cemetery at Podaca was built in the pre-Romanesque times in
the 11th and 12th centuries and it is considered to be one
of the most important pre-Romanesque churches in Dalmatia.
In 1492., not far from St.John's church, there was built St.
Stephen's church which was demolished in the 18th century to
cede the place to the present church which was built in
1762.
Surrounding the church is the cemetery with a medieval
Bosnian standing tomb-stone. Under its present name Podaca
is first mentioned in 1571. The village grew on the slopes
of Biokovo, close to St.John theBaptist's church.
This area dominates still today over the present
locality and its name is Gornja Podaca (Upper Podaca). At
the entrance to the village there is a well preserved Tover
which was built for defence from the Turkish attacks.
After an earthquake in 1962., almost entire population moved
to the coastal area where a new church was built to Our Lady
of Annunciation. |
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