Murvica is a 29-inhabitant small village 6 km west of Bol

Bol, Croatia

Bol is a town on the south of the island of Brač in theSplit-Dalmatia County of Croatia, population 1,661 .Bol is renowned for its most popular beach, the Zlatni rat . It is a promontory composed mostly of pebble rock that visibly shifts with the tidal movement, a unique sight...

, on the island Brač

Brac

Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...

, in Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

. It is situated beneath karst caves along the southern side of the island and was mentioned for the first time in 1286. Later it developed as a supply centre for the many hermits living there.

Monks and nuns fleeing from the Turks

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 came to Murvica in the 15th century from Poljica

Poljica

Poljica may refer to:* Poljica , a region of inland Dalmatia, Croatia** Republic of Poljica, an autonomous community which existed in the area between the 13th and early 19th century...

. Over Dračeva luka, near Murvica, priests from Poljica built a monastery in 1512 and nuns build their own hermitage. Dutić was also first mentioned in 1512.

Two more monasteries were built beneath the rocks over Murvica, the Stipančić in 1416 and the Silvio Hermitage in 1497. Monastic life in these hermitages around Murvica continued right up to the Second World War.