The church of our Lady of Tarac

In one of the most beautiful national parks of Croatia, Kornati, on the island of Kornat, lies the Tarca Church, a church dedicated to Our Lady of Prayer, which is called by Our Lady of Tarac.

This modest, one-roomed sacral building, dedicated to Mary's birth, was built in the 17th century on the main ship of the early Christian basilica from the 6th century and is believed to have been built in part by the remains of the old basilica. The old Christian basilica, due to its dimensions (20x13m), believes that it could not serve only local believers, because no traces were found that there were so many people in that settlement who would serve such a big church. There is therefore a belief that it was the refuge of sailors in the sheltered bays of Sipan, Levrnake or Telašćice waiting for better sailing winds for the Adriatic.

Today, only an apse and a part of the foundation are preserved from the church, but it has a great significance, not only religious but also cultural and tourist. Namely, the first Sunday in July is held in the service of God with the blessing of the field and the sea. The scene in which hundreds of ships come to the cove made this venerable procession to ships one of the most beautiful and most interesting religious events in Croatia.

The area around the church is of great historical significance. In the immediate vicinity of the church (today's sheep's fork), the foundations of a former building could have been a monastery of Templars or a Benedictine monastery, while the area around the Tarac field was the first colonized place on the island.