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Fireboxes

Although one of the youngest settlements on Brač, built by the local population from Bobišće only in the 18th century, Ložišća is an example of classic island stone construction. Ložišća is a type of settlement that testifies to the hard and persistent work of Brač's inhabitants, who built their homes on the harsh and karst elevation, clearing away the rocky karst to free up land for vineyards and olive groves, as evidenced by numerous stone mounds and dry stone walls.

The village of Ložišće was built on a stone clearing above the sea. The stone houses are lined up one behind the other all the way to the top of the village, and the facades of all the houses are oriented towards the sun. The village is dominated by one of the most beautiful bell towers in Croatia (and beyond) – the bell tower of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, built in 1899 according to the design of the sculptor Ivan Rendić (who originally intended the design for Venice).

Ložišća today

Today, around 140 residents live in Ložišće, who are mainly engaged in olive growing and agriculture, which opens up great opportunities for the sustainable development of tourism in the rural environment (agritourism, while preserving old methods of growing and processing island crops).
In 2020, the Ložišća bypass (1.54 km) was built, which is connected to the first tunnel on the island, the Korito tunnel. The project has been planned and prepared for a long time because it is extremely important not only for the local population but also for the entire island of Brač.
During 2020, streets and unclassified roads were renovated, including field and fire roads in the settlement.
There are usually wooden stairs leading to the door, which are elevated on the south side by picturesque gabled luminaries, where the hearth, the center of the old Brač house, used to be. Stone consoles are placed around the walls. 

Did you know?

  • The stone bridge (called the Francis Joseph Bridge among the locals) was built during the Austrian administration on Brač, and leads from the valley of Ložišća to Vičja luka, through which torrential streams once passed.
  • Ložišća got its first school in 1857. It is a two-story stone building with three tall skylights in the attic. There was a school on the ground floor and first floor, and a rectory on the second floor.
  • The Church of St. John and Paul in Ložišća was built in 1820, and the bell tower as part of the church eighty years later, in 1899.
  • The bell tower of the church in Ložišće was originally intended for Venice, and the famous sculptor Ivan Rendić offered Ložišće a more modest and simpler solution, which the locals did not accept, but rather wanted exactly that. They built it for years and today they have the most beautiful bell tower in Croatia.
  • The inhabitants of Ložišće have always been engaged in agriculture, and in the past also in livestock breeding, so at the beginning of the 19th century, one of the largest water collection points on the island was built in the village area, called Donji pisk or Stara voda, where water was collected in stone pools; it was used to water the livestock.
  • Donji Pisk is an advanced industrial-technological solution and an example of the perfect cultivation of an agrarian landscape in harmony with nature (the natural environment has been preserved and the landscape around the watering hole has not been disturbed).
  • The inhabitants of Ložišće, mostly peasants, laboriously cultivating the land of the landowners they had leased, had to give the owners a fifth of their harvest, and this “tribute” was nicknamed “the evil five.” Even today, that time is remembered in a bad light.