Orebić
This municipality with about 1500 residents
spreads from the old part of town along
the seashore inland, with numerous new homes
and bed and breakfasts constructed behind
this narrow belt. The coastal part of town
boasts primarily the Baroque homes of the
Orebic sailors, with large gardens filled
with flowers, trellis-work and exotic tree
species. For centuries, the main economic
activity here was shipping, and generations
of the local families produced distinguished
captains of sailing ships, later steamships
and today of large motor ships. In 1865,
the Peljesac Maritime Society (Associacione
Marittima di Sabioncelo - AMSD) was founded,
which soon had 33 sailing ships for transatlantic
sailing, and they opened their own shipyard
in Orebic.
In the centre of town is the
Church of Christian Aid from the 19th century,
and not far is the old municipal building,
where the reading room and library are situated
on the main floor and the Maritime Museum,
founded in 1957, is on the first floor.
The museum has a valuable archaeological
collection of many models, ships, photographs
of sailing ships, portraits of the captains
and various maritime equipment and maps,
as well as documents relating to shipping
and the families of Orebic.
Not far away,
above the dense pine and cypress woods,
the Franciscan monastery with its Church
of Our Lady of Angels was erected in 1475
on the cliff. Next to the church is the
graveyard, called the "Captain's graveyard",
as many generations of captains and sailors
are buried here. The church has a collection
of valuable art, including the Mother with
Child by the Florence master Fiamiberi,
relief in marble and the Mother with Child
by Nikola Firentinac and more.
The monastery
has its own museum collection with a number
of votive paintings from the 17th and 19th
centuries, which depict ships in trouble
under the protection of the Mother of God.
In addition to the art, the monastery also
has a small Baroque loggia-viewing point,
which offers a unique view of the Peljesac
Channel, the archipelago of islets, the
city and island of Korcula, and towards
the east offers views of the Peljesac peninsula
and the island of Mljet.
The residents here
still work in shipping, as well as in tourism:
there are a large number of bed and breakfasts
and vacation homes, along with a number
of large hotels and campgrounds, all directly
near to pebble beaches and pine forests.
