Church of St. Peter and Paul in Veli Iž

Church of St. Peter and Paul in Veli Iž is a sacral building located in the centre of the village next to the harbour. If you have rented an apartment, room or holiday house in Veli Iž, you can skip the barriers of time here and peek into the history of the island which is kept between darkened walls of the church, where few will look for it, where it dreams and waits for a new curious pair of eyes. Even if Veli Iž does not look old at glance, the place is counting many centuries. The Glagolitic parish of Veli Iž was founded in 1341. Saints Peter and Paul, after whom it is named, are celebrated on June 29. Consequently an ancient solemn “Večernja” is sung in memory of the patron saints, and all the deceased and living inhabitants of Veli Iž, in the church on the eve of the holiday. The living ones have the traditional folk feast under the ancient mulberry tree on the village water near the church after the Večernja ceremony. Once upon a time, the place was called the Village of St. Peter, and the only things left from that times are the Glagolitic singing, and a multimedia monography about it published in 2013.