Church of St. Peter on Priko
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You are standing in front of the Church of St. Peter on Priko, one of the most important ancient Croatian buildings in Omiš, built in the 9th or 10th century. This church stands on the right bank of the Cetina River, and was first officially mentioned in 1074, in a document of King Slavac. Interestingly, the church was built on the site of an even older early Christian building, which means that this place is a witness to a thousand years of history. Over the centuries, the church has undergone numerous changes. In the 16th century, a Franciscan monastery was built next to it, but it was soon abandoned. In the 18th century, the interior was renovated in the Baroque style, with a new altar. From 1750 to 1879, a Glagolitic seminary operated here, where priests were educated in the Old Church Slavonic language, which is a rarity even for Croatian churches. The architecture of the church shows typical pre-Romanesque elements: it is single-nave, with a semicircular apse and a dome on pendentives. The outer walls are divided by shallow lesenes, and the windows are decorated with stone lattices called transenes. It is particularly interesting that parts of an even older church from the 6th century were used in the construction, such as stone pilasters decorated with acanthus leaf motifs. The church also contains a stone sarcophagus from the 11th century, which is now used as an altar table. It is assumed that it is associated with Peter the Black, which gives this place additional historical weight. During the 20th century, the church was often affected by floods, because the construction of surrounding buildings prevented the natural drainage of water towards the Cetina River, so worship had to be moved to another location. In 1999, the church of St. Peter's Church became the center of the newly formed parish, but due to constant problems with moisture, a prefabricated metal church, known as the "tin church", was built in 2000, which served as a temporary solution. Only recently was a modern church with a pastoral center completed, designed by Dinko Brkljačić, and the new building covers 450 m² and has multifunctional spaces for various parish activities. One interesting fact: on fragments of the altar railing, a record was found that the church was built by the Cetina prefect Gastika in honor of his mother and sons, which is a rare example of a personal dedicatory inscription from that time.