*Traveler and writer Tomislav Beronić has written more than 50 blogs on the Turističke priče portal, and he often collaborates with other researchers on his travels and research. One of them is Goran Majetic who writes on the portal The waking giant, with whom Beronić, among other things, explored the Glagolitic church of St. John in Blagaj in the Slunj area. We are reposting this story from the Budni div portal with the author's permission:
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The search for the location, and possible foundation remains, of the medieval Glagolitic church of Sveti Ivan in Blagaj in the Slunj area, which researchers from the Budni Div portal began searching for in 2022, continued a year later. It focused on the hamlet along the right bank of the Korana River, which is highlighted on the cadastral map of the Austrian Empire from 1864 as Koransko Selo.
The hamlet is located along the very right bank of the Korana River, at the point where the river gorge turns into a wide bay (a plain that runs parallel to the river bed), about a kilometer downstream from the ruins of the medieval fortified town of Blagaj. On the first day of continuing the search, I arrived there with my husband Martin. We left the car on a grassy plateau, about half a kilometer north of the hamlet. The plateau is approached by a gravel road heading west, which branches off from the Karlovac – Slunj state road (D1) at the “Lukoil” gas station in Lapovac. It is only one kilometer to the place where we parked. The “White” road runs from there to the south, descending and getting closer and closer to the Korana River bank, and finally ending in the hamlet that was our desired destination.
We walked slowly on a beautiful autumn afternoon to the hamlet in less than 15 minutes. Along the road on the left, about 150 meters before entering the hamlet, we saw a well-maintained spring, where we refreshed ourselves with cool drinking water. Having reached the hamlet, we saw several scattered small houses used as holiday homes. In one of them, the one closest to the Korana, we found the owners, whom we asked if they might know of some old ruins nearby or, perhaps, the location of a place called crkvina. It turned out, however, that they were not natives, but rather occasional residents of the hamlet, which they simply call Blagaj (most people do not know the old name), who had only become residents a few years ago. Therefore, none of them knew how to answer our question, but instead recommended that we take a look at the remains of the nearby mills. Indeed, nearby, along both banks of the river, you can see the more or less ruined stone walls of former mills.
We thought that our pleasant Saturday afternoon would end with beautiful views of the Korana gorge, the nearby harbor and the wooded slopes, and in the pleasure of listening to the water murmuring in the waterfalls and rapids. However, on our way back, we stopped by a secluded, large wooden house, located just above the magical waterfall, arranged to receive guests. Curiosity drew us to look around this beautiful building, when a vehicle came along and stopped at the edge of the property. The man who got out of it was the owner of the vacation home, who kindly offered to show us the property. We, of course, readily accepted the invitation and, guided by the host, “sniffed out” the harmoniously arranged surroundings of the house, and then sat down for a “cup of conversation”.
The owners of the estate and holiday home "Rooms S&I Korana" are Ivica and Snježana Stanišić, originally from nearby Pavlovac. They bought the estate in 2000 and have since gradually transformed it into a real little paradise for tourists, and they continue to improve it. The last few hundred meters of the macadam road, which we walked along to the hamlet, were broken and filled in largely thanks to them. From spring to autumn, when the water levels of the Korana are moderate, they offer canoe rides from Rastok near Slunj downstream to their estate. After the touristy days, we caught up on a conversation about the history of the area, including the medieval church of Sveti Ivan.
Ivica Stanišić told us that its remains are located in a grove about 50 meters above the garden that he and his wife are cultivating, located near the place where we parked the car. He added that the ruins of the church are on a plot of land owned by Marko Obranović, who lives in America. Our host pointed out that he had often visited the area around the property and that there were no similar stone remains anywhere else in the nearby forests, groves and meadows. And tradition, he said, testifies to the fact that the church we were looking for was located in the immediate vicinity of his garden. After saying goodbye to the host, returning to the car, following the instructions we had just received, we headed to the grove on the flat top of a gentle hill, where we found a dry stone fence, and in the middle of the space surrounding it, there were also ruined walls.
The size of the remains of these walls and their west-east direction suggest that the sought-after church could indeed have stood there. We took several photographs of the remaining ruins of the building there and the surrounding dry stone wall. Upon returning from the excursion, we visited the Beronić family in Krnjak, Tomislav, Biserka and their daughter Dora, with whom we agreed to continue the research the next day, Sunday, October 8. Thanks to another day with good weather, this excursion was also a success. Tomislav Beronic He used a machete to clear away only the vegetation that hid the rest of the ruined building from view. After the work was done, we saw that the remains of the walls rose to a height of over two meters in a few places. Of course, after removing the military greenery around the walls, they could be photographed more easily and better.
After returning from the excursion, on the same evening, Tomislav Beronić emphasized on his personal Facebook profile:
- We are now very certain that this is the church that historian Radoslav Lopašić mentions in his book “Around the Kupa and Korana – Topographical and Historical Sketches”, in the chapter “Blagaj”, published in 1895. The Church of St. John was, like all other churches in this part of the then medieval Gorička County – Glagolitic, of which there are written traces. It is a sacral space that is still quite visible, with side walls over one to two and a half meters high preserved, with the layer of humus probably being perhaps one meter deep, so that future excavations would have something to discover.
The building is oriented east-west. The sanctuary is on the east side, measuring about 4 by 4 meters. It is possible that it was semicircular, but only excavations could determine this with certainty. The central nave of the church was about 8 meters long, and the outer wall of a possible pediment or some kind of canopy was about 5-6 meters. That's how many walls can be seen on each side. The outer wall stands out nicely around the entire building, which, judging by its thickness, was a fence, and I would not rule out the possibility that there were graves inside that, let's call it for the purposes of this article - the courtyard area. But we leave that to archaeologists. We ended our mission by placing a granite slab (a big thank you to Klesartstvo Butorac from Duga Resa for donating stone for such actions) on which we wrote the church's titulary in Glagolitic and Latin.
The ruins of this building in Blagaj, only 200 meters from the Korana, are very likely to be the medieval Glagolitic church of St. John. It is up to historians and archaeologists to undertake appropriate research and excavations to confirm or reject this assumption. Finally, it should be noted that on Sunday's excursion we also met the owner of a tourist property in Blagaj, Ivica Stanišić, on the terrace above the Korana next to his vacation home.
In addition, we walked about a kilometer and a half through the meadows – harbors along the right bank of the river, downstream all the way to Veljun and back, in search of another exceptional cultural and historical monument. This construction was somehow connected to the church in question. Our host again helped us with “guiding” us to the right position and this building. However, we will announce what exactly the building is after we repeat the research, hopefully during the winter period, when its viewing, photographing and measuring will be least disturbed by the surrounding vegetation.
Author Goran Majetic, freelance researcher
Source: The waking giant
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Tomislav Beronic
Glagolitic before Cyril and Methodius
Free research on the Illyrian origin of the Glagolitic alphabet.
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