The Franciscan monastery of Koszlun ( Croatian Franjevački samostan Košljun ) is a Catholic Franciscan monastery in Croatia on the small island of Koszlun , located in the bay of Krk island near the village of Punat . It was founded in 1447 [1] . The monastery is the only building on Koszlun, and several monks living in it are the only permanent residents of the island.
| Monastery | |
| Franciscan Monastery of Koszlun | |
|---|---|
| Horv. Franjevački samostan Košljun | |
 Cloister of the monastery | |
| A country |  Croatia |
| Isle | Koshlyun |
| Denomination | Catholicism |
| Diocese | Diocese of Krk |
| Order affiliation | Franciscans |
| Type of | male |
| Status | Active monastery |
| Website | kosljun.hr |
Content
- 1 History
- 2 Current status
- 3 notes
- 4 References
History
In the XII century , the Benedictine Abbey was founded on the island, the monks of which served according to the Glagolic rite [1] . The modern church of the monastery is built on the foundation of the 12th century Benedictine church. By the 15th century, the abbey was abandoned and on the initiative of the owners of the island, Counts Martin and Ivan Frankopanov , Pope Nicholas V in 1447 transferred it to the Franciscan community.
Franciscans rebuilt and rebuilt the structures of the abbey. The monastery church they built was consecrated in the name of the Annunciation . The monastery buildings have not been rebuilt since the 16th century, which allowed the monastery to maintain its authentic medieval appearance.
Current status
The main monastery attraction is the well-preserved church of the second half of the 15th century. The main altar stands out in the interior, decorated with a polyptych of authorship by Girolamo da Santacroce . Above the altar is the fresco “Paradise, Purgatory and Hell”, which occupies the entire altar wall, by Francesco Ugetta (1653). Six side altars contain images of St. Francis and the Five Other Saints of the Franciscan Order [1] . The ancient organ was not preserved, the modern one was made in 1908 in Ljubljana .
There are three old small chapels on the island: the chapel of the Nativity, first mentioned in 1651; Chapel of the Holy Cross (1589) and Chapel of St. Francis (1654). In the chapel of the Holy Cross, an ancient crucifix is kept, revered by the miraculous believers [1] .
Of great historical and cultural value is the monastery library, with more than 30,000 books, including ancient incunabula , 16th-century atlases and Glagolitic books [1] . There are three small museums at the monastery: archaeological, ethnographic and a museum of religious art [2] .
Koshljunsky monastery - the operating Franciscan monastery, is open for visiting by tourists. The monastery is surrounded by a park. There is a pier on the island where tourist boats mooring visitors from Punat moor [3] . Near the pier on the seashore is a monument “St. Francis and the Wolf ”, illustrating the legend of the taming of the wolf of St. Francis of Assisi [4] .