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Strana 2 z 3 In the 15th century, the feudal lords of Zaostrog were Croatian noblemen, the Vlatkovic-Jurjevic brothers, who had a fortified castle at Viter, as is shown by the ruins, the remains of ancient fortifications, particularly a stone threshold with a relief of a hand. In the 17th centuru, the inhabitants of Zaostrog began to settle on the coastline, and finally everyone moved from the upper settlement to the area along the sea after an earthquake in 1962. The old town of Zaostrog contains three churches: the early Gothic Church of St.Barbara with a cemetery in the Roman section, the church of St.Roccus from the 17th century, and the newer church of St. Barbara from 1872. There are a further three small chapels: St.Anthony in the village (1893), the church of Our Lady at Kucina (1911), and St.Elias at Prosik (1894). The largest and most important cultural monument in this area, and even beyond, is the Franciscan monastery of St.Mary. The monastery is considered to havebeen founded in the 14th century. It was established by monks of the order of "hermits of St. Augustine", called Augustinians, who abandoned the monastery after the fall of Bosnia in 1463 and retreated to the islands. Franciscans from the Province of Bosnia Srebrena settled in the abandoned monastery in 1468, and are still present today. The Franciscans succeeded in improving the monastery, even under the difficult conditions of Turkish rule, to the extent that in 1640 it was proclaimed one of the most beautiful monasteries of this large province, according to the evaluation of a visitation team from Rome. One of the most important cultural monuments that illuminates the cultural level of the monastery at that time is a stone inscription written in the Croatian lanuage and a special script ("Bosancica") from 1589, located above the main entrance to the church. The monastery at Zaostrog was at that point an internationally famous pilgrimage site that was included in a list of Marian sites throughout the world.
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