TOWERS AND FORTRESSES - SUĐURAĐ

Suđurađ on the island of Šipan, the fortified church of the Holy Spirit Like everywhere else in Dalmatia, on the islands under the rule of the Ragusan Republic, the speeded up construction of fortifications had been recorded in the 2nd half of the 16th century, owing to the more and more frequent and dangerous Ottoman plundering attacks. This was also the case with the largest among the Elaphite islands, Šipan, where the confraternity of the place, that means the local population, built a fortified church of the Holy Spirit. Situated on the eastern part of the island, further inland from the coast, above the settlement Suđurađ, on the pass between its port in the east and the fields turned west. Despite the well preserved material of the Dubrovnik archives no data have been found so far about the year of the building of this valuable and well-known monument. It is a regularly and clearly conceived construction that was the result of a building campaign. The ground-plan is a Latin cross, which was probably chosen with the idea of giving it a protective role in the defence against the enemy. The simple, massive and non-joined church body is raised to considerable height, ending with a flat roof, actually a terrace that served for defence purposes. From this terrace, leading to the dangerous spot of the entrance to the church, there were a number of ducts passing through the masonry for throwing stones upon possible attackers. Small loopholes, placed in the corners between the main and transversal church nave, would have served for the defence of the outer lateral walls. The simple inner space is arched by a barrel-shaped vault that rests on a profiled crown. Behind the sanctuary is the space of the sacristy but also the staircase leading to the terrace; in the lower part of this space there is also the cistern, essential in cases of longer enemy siege. The present-day larger windows originate from later times when it was unnecessary to subject everything to the demands of security. What ought to be mentioned among the later adaptations is also the removal of the parapet for the defenders, i.e. the cresting that ran along the sides of the terrace. The fortified church on Šipan, with its high, imposing body without the usual lean-to roof, is an outstanding example of a construction that could, on account of its dimensions, serve as a refuge to the local community, and which functionally entirely fulfils both the demands of the defence and those of the cult.