Selca

With four main and several small settlements, each brimming with culture, layered history, eclectic people and hidden beauty, this part of the stunning island of Brač has so much to offer to visitors in search of peace and authenticity off the beaten path.

Located on the gentle slopes of Plis (150 meters) halfway between the sea and spacious plateans in the hinterland Selca has long been renowed for it’s quarrying and stone cutting skills as testified by the imposing Neo-Romanic parish church, facables of private houses, piazza and cobbled streets.Prompted by the rapid development of tourism, the inhabitans of Selca descender to the seaside where they built a whole new settlement called Puntinak. Their new stone houses provide comfortable accommodation and every modern convinience to tourists and holidaymakers.

After spending a pleasant day swimming, basking in the sun and sightseeing, gourmets can enjoy local delicacies in few restaurants.

In 1888, the “Croatian Meeting” society was founded in Selce, which operated until the middle of the 20th century. It was revitalized in 1988 on the 100th anniversary of its founding, and since then it has been called “Croatian Meeting 1888”. The society was revitalized by Sinaj Bulimbašić, who was its president for many years. He was replaced by Juro Štambuk Čiča, and today the president is Ivan Marijančević. The men’s klapa “Selca”, the women’s klapa “Fjorin” and “Mirula”, and the mandolin orchestra operated within the KUD. With the renewal of the Society, brass music was established, whose official name is the Wind Orchestra of KUD “Croatian Meeting 1888”, and for two decades it was led by maestro Dragan Smiljan, who also trained the musicians themselves. Today, the conductor of the Wind Orchestra is Siniša Vuković. The president of the Wind Orchestra from the first day is Bruno Štambuk.

The mixed choir of Christ the King, which was started in 1996 by Siniša Vuković, its conductor, still operates within the parish community. The word about Selce was spread by this choir all over the country and abroad (Italy, France, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary …). The choir of Christ the King recorded the complete Glagolitic singing of the place on the triple sound carrier “Confess”, which was published in 2008 by the Split publishing house “Verbum”. The organist during the service in the church is Pero Bošković.

The parish church is dedicated to Christ the King (celebrated on the last Sunday before Advent), and the parish is guarded by the heavenly patroness Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Our Lady of Scapular or Our Lady of Carmen), whose feast is celebrated on July 16.

The pastor in Selce is the Rev. Don Jakša Rubinić, originally from Vrisnik on the island of Hvar.

In 1991, the poet, physician and diplomat, Dr. Drago Štambuk, founded the all-Croatian poetry event “Croatia rediviva”, which extends all three Croatian languages: Čakavian, Kajkavian and Štokavian. The event is held in the central square, Pijaci, in early August, and featured some of the greatest Croatian poets (Dragutin Tadijanović, Vesna Parun, Slavko Mihalić, Tonko Maroević, Luko Paljetak, Jakša Fiamengo, Joško Božanić …). After the poetry marathon, the founder of the event, Drago Štambuk, crowned one of the poets with an olive wreath, and he thus became a “poet oliveatus”, and a few verses of the olive tree were carved into a stone slab and placed on the “Wall of Poetry”.