Catholic church

Located on the edge of a rocky outcrop overlooking the Adriatic Sea in the small seafront Biokovo village of Podgora, Croatia is the small but unique Church of the Assumption of Mary (Crkva Uznesenja Marijina), which is of the Catholic denomination. The initiative to create this church began in 1962, after a series of earthquakes along the Biokovo region that year destroyed many hundreds of structures, including the church here in Podgora. The parish church leaders quickly hired the young aspiring local architect Ante Rožić to design their new church. Construction began in 1963, however, Rožić quickly realized that local builders were not able to successfully execute the unusual and technically challenging plans he had laid out. As such, engineers and builders from the nearby shipyards in Split were brought in to complete the work. The church was completed the following year in 1964. After creating this church, Rožić went on to create several other churches in the Biokovo region, such as the Church of St. George at Drašnice and the Church of St. Nikola Tavelić in Tučepi. Rožić's Church of the Assumption of Mary is a masterful work of architectural innovation and imagination, as it pioneers new ideas of what a church space could and should look like. The church is cast from a single continuous slab of billowy unadorned concrete which curls around like a canopy then reaching up dramatically to a sharp point. The symbolism of this shape can be explained by, as mentioned earlier, the fact that in Croatian, the expression used for being in the presence of God is 'šatorom Božjim' or literally 'Tent of God' in English. The interior is equally sparse, with the board forms still visible on the concrete wall. The only decoration is a series of small Stations of the Cross paintings. At the nave's altar is a beam of orange stain glass descending from the upper pinnacle of the church that symbolically appears like divine light shining down from above. In recent years, the church's structure has declined, which has allowed water and seepage to harm the concrete canopy. Some have advocated that it is too expensive to repair and should be torn down and replaced, however, others disagree and feel that the church is an important historical landmark and architectural icon for the region.

Unfortunately when we visited the church was closed so I was unable to go inside but it's unusual design was worth visiting. Plus as with the whole town there are some great views.

Catholic church directly above the camp in Podgora. The church is only open on Mass on Sunday. You can sit on the bench in front of the entrance. From the church, you can go across the camp to the beach, across the road through the stairs between the olive trees up to Stará Podgora. The church has a very special shape, it is made of concrete monolith. Certainly worth a visit.

It is certainly an interesting architectural object of sacred art.

I do not know why they write that this is an Orthodox church ... This is a Catholic church. The word CRKVA means a church in Croatia, not an Orthodox church. Very interesting architecture. The whole poured out of concrete gives the impression of a monolith. The interior is surprising. It is worth taking a stroll to the end of Podgora near the campsite Sutikla, enter the stairs in its vicinity about 100 -150 m and visit the Church .... Edit 2018: finally changed to 'Catholic' ...