SMALL CHURCH BY THE ROAD

I took the following photographs a couple of weeks ago while driving around with no particular destination in mind. The year was still 2021, which makes this a post about some recent last year's stuff.

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Just a couple of kilometers from the town called Vodnjan, about 20 - 25 kilometers from home, I saw a rooftop surrounded by tall cypress trees and I stopped by the road.

One branch of the narrow, unpaved road was leading to someone's property ...

... a place where people like the dude on this circular sign aren't allowed. Fortunately, I don't look like that person nor do I walk that way, so I felt invited. There was nothing special there, just a piece of land. A freshly cleared area ready to host a small house or something like that. So I returned to the point in which the already small & narrow road branches into two smaller ones, and I took the second branch.

Less than a minute later, I almost reached the small church. This photograph was taken while I was approaching the lateral part of the building. The sunlight in collaboration with one of the cypresses created a large shadow on the wall.

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From this angle, the church is at its best ... in my opinion.
The heavy wooden door was locked ...

... and windows were protected with fences and bars.

It looked like a solid little fortress. I couldn't enter ...

... but I was able to capture fragments of the interior ...

... trough the fence & bars. Those protective constructions actually helped me.

The interior was pretty dark ...

... so I had to shoot with low shutter speed. Definitely too low for a hand-held camera, but when I leaned the lens on the thick metal of the bars, I got just enough stability for a couple of decent shots.

Trying to find the way to get relatively good photographs in those restrictive circumstances was actually a lot of fun.

Here you can see the elongated board with some basic information about the building. It states that the church as we see it today was built in 1854 on the remains of the much older one from the 13th century. Not far from the church, there was a village called Gusan, that was abandoned, dismantled, or destroyed and through time disappeared completely. I wasn't aware of its existence before doing a bit of research for this post. This church, Our Lady of Health is all that remains of Gusan.
The church, including its older medieval version, has a long tradition of pilgrimage, and I heard about beliefs in its healing properties from some of the people I know.
My spirituality is pretty low when it comes to organized religions, so I don't expect substantial health improvements from a church, but I like quiet places with plenty of art and history, so maybe at the end I got some kind of blessing.
The ways of the Good Lord are damn unpredictable if you ask me.

Flowers, candles, and fruits on the windows ...

... are offers brought by pilgrims.

After taking these photographs ...

... I walked across the main road ...

... to enjoy the view.

From that side of the road, I could see the seaside village called Peroj ...

... and quite a few islands ...

... of the archipelago called Brijuni.

AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END.