Parish of St. James, Pitve
The parish church of St. James the Apostle the Elder in Pitve is celebrated on the feast day of July 25. It was built on a picturesque hill above the “old Pitve”.
The first parish church in Pitve is mentioned in 1452 on the site of the present parish church. It is assumed that this year is associated with the construction of the old church of St. James, which was apparently connected to the earlier church of All Saints, which is now a side chapel.
The old church was dedicated to All Saints, to whom one of the side altars in the new church is dedicated today.
In the visits of the Bishop of Verona Augusto Valier, who came to Hvar as an apostolic visitor in 1579, the church of St. James is mentioned in Pitve, which he says was dedicated and equipped with two altars, St. James and the altar of All Saints. The old church was demolished in 1877 and a new parish church of St. James was built in its place. The church was consecrated in 1878.
A single-nave longitudinal building with a square apse and an attached square sacristy on the south side, 11 meters wide and 26.5 meters long. The Church of St. James is a beautiful example of historicist architecture, consistently built in the late Gothic style, indicating the historical moment in which it was created. The consistent evocation of older layers through the church inventory and the exceptional position in which it was built make this monument a unique cultural asset.
Through the efforts of the then parish priest, it was renovated again in 1975, when the bells were electrified and artistic stained glass windows were installed in the church windows. In 1976, a new stone altar was installed facing the people.
In front of the Church is the two-faced head of the ancient Roman deity Janus, who was intended to determine the beginning, which is why it is placed at the entrance to the church lobby.
Under the code Z-6582, it is registered as an immovable cultural property – individual, with the legal status of a protected cultural property, classified as “sacral architectural heritage”.
