Gračišće, Church of St Mary

The Church of St Mary on the Square is situated on the central square of the settlement of Gračišće. It was erected in 1425, as confirmed by a dedicatory inscription which, in addition to the year of construction, records the founder Petar Beračić, the builder Dento, and the Bishop of Pićan, Gregory. The chapel has a simple rectangular ground plan with a straight eastern termination and is covered by a pointed barrel vault. The façade is crowned by a stone bell-cote with a bell and articulated by a moulded entrance portal flanked by two small window openings. The porch in front of the church was added in the seventeenth century.

Gothic wall paintings dating from the fifteenth century were uncovered in the sanctuary during conservation interventions on the Baroque altar, which was subsequently relocated to the nearby Church of St Euphemia. The preserved paintings in the sanctuary reveal the hands of three masters originating from distinct cultural milieux.

In the arched upper zone of the east wall is a depiction of the Entombment of Christ, executed by Master Dominic of Udine in the sixteenth century. The Gothic wall paintings of the lower zone of the sanctuary are arranged in two registers. The upper register is occupied by the Adoration of the Magi, while the lower zone contains figures of saints placed within painted arcades. The embrasure of the window contains a depiction of God the Father, beneath which two angels support the Veil of Veronica. On the north wall are depicted Saints Peter and Paul (?), while on the opposite, south wall, a fragmentarily preserved scene of the Annunciation can be identified.

The first scholarly reference to these wall paintings was made by Viktor Snoj in 1994 in the publication Istra – tirkizni sjaj kristala.

Iconographic programme:

East wall: 1. Adoration of the Magi, 2. God the Father, 3. Two angels with the Veil of Veronica, 4. St Christopher, 5. St Anne with the Virgin and Child and two female saints, 8. Entombment of Christ (Dominic of Udine, sixteenth century). North wall: Saints Peter and Paul (?) East wall: 7. Annunciation.