The Church of St. Nicholas on the Sorinj Promontory

CENTURIES-OLD VOWS OF THE SEAMEN TI THE PATRON SAINT

He was mentioned for the first time in 1447 as St. Nicolai de Sarigno. The church was built as a votive offering dedicated to St. Nicholas, patron saint of sailors. Credit for its construction goes to the priest Toma de Zanzarello.

THE SMALL CHURCH SITUATED ON THE WINDY SORINJ PROMONTORY

The church is a small single-nave building with a semi-circular apse. The facade is topped by the belfry with no bell, with a small window opening below. Lateral walls and the back wall of the apse have got a narrow oblong window opening each. The interior of the nave is empty, and the stone altar was placed with the sculptures of St. John the Baptist and St. Nicholas on lateral walls of the nave. He historical sources have shown that as early as the beginning of the 16th c. The roof of the church was missing and it has fallen in ruin by this day. It has been reconstructed recently in the original Romanesque style, with the same layout and construction technique.

THE CHURCH SERVED AS A LANDMARK FOR SEAMEN AND IS MARKED IN MARITIME MANUALS OF THAT TIME

This church, as many other churches on the Adriatic coast, in addition to their sacral function, served as landmarks, marking dangerous areas. In other words, churches served as a navigational aid and were marked on handwritten nautical charts and island maritime zone charts of that time. In addition to the Church of St. Nicholas, a church was built on the neighbouring Island of Krk, with both of them serving as a navigation landmark through the Senj Canal. Reconstruction works initiated in 2008 and were completed in 2012.