Supetar

Supetar (Croatian pronunciation: [sǔpetar], Italian: San Pietro della Brazza) is a town on the northern part of the Dalmatian island of Brač, in the Split-Dalmatia County, in Croatia. It became the island's official centre in 1827. The town of Supetar includes Supetar itself and the three villages of Splitska, Škrip and Mirca.

Supetar
Town
Grad Supetar Town of Supetar
Supetar harbor
Supetar Location of Supetar in Croatia
Coordinates: 43°23′04″N 16°33′19″E
Country	Croatia
County	Split-Dalmatia
Island	Brač
Government
• Type	Mayor-council
• Mayor	Ivana Marković (SDP)
Area
• Town	29.8 km2 (11.5 sq mi)
• Urban	9.6 km2 (3.7 sq mi)
Elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2021)
• Town	4,325
• Density	150/km2 (380/sq mi)
• Urban	3,415
• Urban density	360/km2 (920/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC 1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC 2 (CEST)
Postal code	21 400
Area code	021
Licence plate	ST
Website	gradsupetar.hr

Place name sign in the Supetar harbour

With a population of 3,213, Supetar is the island's largest town. It is accessible by ferry (Jadrolinija, the ferry ride from the mainland city of Split takes 50 minutes) or via Brač Airport which is located 30 kilometres to the southeast.

History

Church of Saint Peter in Supetar

Old Supetar was situated on the small peninsula where there is now a graveyard. The settlement came to an end during the early Christian era. In the late Middle Ages, a new settlement started around the bay known as St. Peter's, from which the town derives its name. It originated from Sv. Petar during the Latin population of the town. "Sv" stands for "Sveti", meaning saint, therefore it takes its name from Saint Peter, which is the name's English equivalent translation.

The present settlement of Supetar was founded in the 16th century when people living in Nerežišća, about 8 kilometres (5 miles) inland, began to use it as their harbour. The town's main period of development occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries when Supetar took over from Nerežišća as the administrative centre of the island of Brač.

The town

The Parish church of St. Peter (Sveti Petar) stands on the side of an old chapel which was restored in 1773 in a Baroque architectural style. At that time it also received a new aisle and bell tower. It was extended in 1887. In the church there are paintings by the local artist Feliks Tironi from the second half of the 18th century and a Baroque altarpiece by an unknown Venetian artist of the 18th century.

In the old part of the church there are some gravestones with Croatian inscriptions and at the entrance to the church there is a font made of two large Gothic capitals. On the left of the church building there is a sundial and beneath it a sarcophagus with the date 1774 engraved. In the Sunday school classrooms there are paintings from the Venetian era (16th and 17th centuries). The well, decorated with reliefs, is the work of Johannes Mazzonius from 1734.

Supetar graveyard beside the Chapel St. Nicholas (Sveti Nikola Putnik) there are two old Christian sarcophagi and several gravestones (Pieta), which are the work of Ivan Rendić of Supetar (1849–1932), and the mausoleum of the Petrinović family with portraits and sculptures, by the sculptor Toma Rosandić (1878–1958).

Population

Town of Supetar: Population trends 1857–2021

population	2571	2833	2951	3057	3239	3062	2637	2623	2425	2507	2486	2389	2815	3324	3889	4074	4325
	1857	1869	1880	1890	1900	1910	1921	1931	1948	1953	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001	2011	2021

Sources: Croatian Bureau of Statistics publications

Supetar in the news

Vlačica Beach in Supetar

Slobodna Dalmacija daily reported in 2009 that a housing development called Adriatica is being built in McKinney, Texas, United States, by real estate developer Jeff Blackard as a partial faithful replica of Supetar.

Notable people

• Kažimir Hraste (born 1954), sculptor, illustrator, professor
• Tonči Matulić (born 1966), Catholic priest, author, university professor, and bioethicist

External links

• Supetar Tourist Board
• Supetar at Geonames.com
• Supetar-Brač Online