My tour around Croatia: Beautiful Konavle 

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

By Ane Strazicic Rodriguez 

Konavle, a place full of tranquility, is celebrated in song. This region is one of the most beautiful parts of our beloved country, located at the southernmost tip of Croatia and part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

It played a significant role in the history of the famous Dubrovnik Republic. After my home island of Mljet, Konavle is my favorite place in Croatia.

Every year when I return to Croatia, I first visit my dear friends in Konavle: the Mekiš, Divizić, and Bećir families, who always welcome me with open arms and offer delightful Konavle delicacies paired with excellent wines from the Miličić, Crvik, Miljas, Dubrovnik Cellars, and Karaman wineries.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

I can never decide which Malvasia Dubrovačka is the best.

Swimming in the picturesque, southernmost tourist spot of Molunat and enjoying ice cream on the Cavtat promenade are must-do activities. Each visit, we explore a different cultural monument and revel in the beautiful Konavle cultural heritage, folklore, and the Heritage Museum in Čilipi. The people of Konavle preserve their traditions and cultural heritage like no one else in Croatia.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

This is especially evident in their traditional costumes, worn by both the young and old during significant holidays and ceremonies, particularly for the Feast of St. Blaise, when the entire city glows with beautiful Konavle costumes embroidered with silk they produce themselves.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

The Konavle embroidery is protected as an intangible cultural heritage!

Konavle, which began its restoration after the Homeland War, when it was devastated, burned, and plundered by Serbian and Montenegrin Chetnik terrorists, is slowly but surely being revived, respecting traditions, and carefully uncovering every historical detail.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

The people of Konavle do not want mass tourism; they prefer to present themselves to those who appreciate it. The enthusiasm of young people, combined with the wisdom of tradition, is a winning combination for this true paradise on earth.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

My tour of Konavle begins with my dear friend Maja, starting in the village of Pločice, where the original doors from the time of the Dubrovnik Republic still stand, through Mikulići – Illyrian Hillforts – remnants of an Illyrian settlement in Konavle, and the river Ljuta, a karst river belonging to the Adriatic basin. It is significant that by 1427, four mills were found along the river Ljuta.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

Due to the need to supply a large number of sailors on trading ships and the increasing population, the Republic almost tripled the number of grain mills by the early 16th century. The mills were state-owned and leased under certain conditions. After the fall of the Dubrovnik Republic, they became private property. In the latter half of the 19th century, water-powered olive mills were built.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

We continued our tour to Sokol Grad, a fortress of the Dubrovnik Republic strategically positioned near the border with the former Ottoman Empire. It is located in today’s village of Dunave, on an inaccessible, more than 25 meters high rock.

The first mention of Sokol dates back to before the Dubrovnik Republic, and its continuity of life can be traced back to prehistory. The prehistoric fortress protected the inhabitants of the sub-mountain settlements, while the Byzantine fortress defended the Konavle area from external enemies.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

The Dubrovnik Republic possessed Sokol from the first half of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century, when it was abandoned after the “Great Earthquake” in 1667. For the next 300 years, Sokol Grad was left to decay, destruction, and near oblivion. Thanks to the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, which took possession of Sokol in 1966, the fortress was restored and opened to the public in 2013.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

Next, we arrived in Pridvorje, a village located in the central part of the Konavle municipality, under the slopes of Mount Sniježnica. The Dubrovnik Republic purchased Upper Konavle (the eastern part) from Sandalj Hranić in 1419 and Lower Konavle (the western part) from Radoslav Pavlović in 1426.

Pridvorje was the administrative center of Konavle during the Dubrovnik Republic (the Rector’s Palace, the Franciscan Monastery). The Dubrovnik Republic built the Franciscan Monastery to preserve the purity of Catholic teachings from the influence of Bogomils and the increasingly aggressive Orthodoxy.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

On April 18, 1926, a branch of the Croatian Falcon Association was established. During the Homeland War, Pridvorje was occupied by the JNA and Chetnik units, and the village was almost completely destroyed, plundered, and burned. The church and monastery were also burned and destroyed in 1991 and thoroughly restored after the war. Saints Sergius and Bacchus are the patrons of the village, with the parish church bearing the same name.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

Each hamlet in Pridvorje boasts valuable examples of traditional architecture. The abandoned area of Podvor, below the Rector’s Palace, is notable for its valuable examples of residential and agricultural buildings and a country estate.

A path runs from the center of Pridvorje, through the Rector’s Palace, to the Franciscan Monastery. The cultural association “Stjepan Radić” operates in Pridvorje, preserving and promoting the region’s original folklore tradition.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

The Rector’s Palace was the seat of the Dubrovnik rector in Konavle from the acquisition of Konavle in 1427 until the fall of the Republic in 1808. While Sokol served as a fortress for defense against external enemies, the Rector’s Palace managed and cared for the Republic’s revenues in Konavle.

Today, the Rector’s Palace is owned by the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, which maintains and restores the site.

The Church of St. Barbara is located on Varino Brdo above the village of Dubravka. The site is surrounded by a dry-stone wall, within which lies the largest preserved medieval cemetery in Konavle.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

The small church, built at the end of the 19th century, is surrounded by 104 stećci (medieval tombstones), of which 94 are intact and 10 are fragments, dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Decorations on the stećci include motifs of vines, twisted bands, rosettes with crosses, bows and arrows, handprints, and many others.

Due to its exceptional value, the site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2016.

Finally, we ended our tour at the Konavle Heritage Museum, where Mrs. Antonija Rusković Radonić, an academic painter and a great promoter of Konavle cultural heritage, gave a lecture on the topic “The Ethnographic Collection of Mijo Šiša Konavljanin.” Mijo Šiša Konavljanin (1946–2017) was the only authentic Konavle painter.

His art, although seemingly naive, realistically captured the traditional life of Konavle. Mijo Šiša dedicated his work to recording the traditional life he witnessed as a young man, painting scenes of leisure, agricultural work, house interiors, and everything that depicted the life of a Konavle peasant.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

His admiration for his ancestors and their way of life was passed down to his children, Mihajlo, Božo, and Marijana, who today care for his collections. Their home has preserved paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Mijo, as well as household items used by their ancestors, forming the Ethnographic Collection of Mijo Šiša Konavljanin.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

The collection includes numerous interesting items from Mijo Šiša’s ancestors. His great-grandfather, Miho Šiša (1847–1910), is likely the owner of one of the few remaining examples of whistles made from the bones of eagles or griffon vultures, which were exterminated from Konavle in the early 20th century.

These whistles are typically decorated and represent great value for the collection, as only about ten examples are known today. From that time, there is also a silk and gold brocade cover used until the second half of the 19th century, part of a headgear called hondelj, which fell out of use in the second half of the 19th century.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

Among other items from that time are tobacco and powder pouches made of leather and bones, various metal dishes, and stone household items.

Mijo Šiša’s son, Marko Šiša (1887–1949), emigrated to America in search of a better life, where he worked in mines. After 12 years, he returned to Konavle, bringing with him many novelties: a gramophone, records, miner’s lamps, pipes, folding cups, fans, playing cards, and everything he used in the new world.

Thus, his collection includes many of his items, among which a camera and gramophone, along with photographs and records, attract the most attention. Among the records is one by Emilio Blažević (1879–1962), a baritone who emigrated to America and recorded music for immigrants, including a record of the Croatian national anthem, “Lijepa naša.” The record still plays on this gramophone, which would be the envy of many cultural-historical collections in Croatia.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

Miho Šiša (1911–1998), the father of our great artist, was very talented and a skilled craftsman. He left behind many household items and tools he used. He was the author of the most beautiful Konavle gusle (a traditional string instrument), which he carved with images of his house and his photograph.

From this generation, we have most of the tools and household items, textiles, and costumes. His paintings, created as a boy, also remain, showing the great talent inherited by his son Mijo.

Mijo Šiša (1946–2017), an artist of the 20th century, carefully preserved the memories of his ancestors and their families, surviving the Homeland War in their home.

Numerous grenades were fired at and around the house, and many old weapons and other items were taken. After the war, the family returned to their daily lives and reopened the Mijo Šiša Gallery, located in the household complex, for visitors. After Mijo Šiša’s death in 2017, the gallery was closed to visitors, and the collections were left to deteriorate. In 2023, in collaboration with the Friends of Konavle Heritage Association, restoration work began on the gallery and care for the collections to reopen this significant and valuable collection to the public as soon as possible.

(Photo: Ane Strazicic Rodriguez)

Konavle is a vast area with its unique wineries, family farms, taverns, famous Konavoski Dvori, and excellent restaurants that will surely leave a lasting impression. There is much more to see, especially the stories of Konavle legends, which we will have to leave for another time, ensuring we have a reason to return.

*The information in this article was mainly sourced from the Blog of the Museum and Galleries of Konavle and Mrs. Antonija Rusković Radonić.

Check out Ane’s visit to Samobor here.