Track to St. George

The track to St. George

Perun hill is part of the cultural landscape of the entire Primorska kosa slope, which emerged through the synergy of space and cultures that alternated within it. On the hiking track (3.5 km), starting in Vilar canyon and ending at the church of St. George (Sv. Jure) on the top of Perun, encountered are all layers of the past, which are recognizable in the remains of structures and local names.

Traces of the Roman times – villae rusticae and roads

From the hilltops where the Illyrian natives lived, during the Roman époque life descended to the foothills. In addition to the remains of Roman countryside villas (villae rusticae) on the coast, there are also traces of this epoque in the hinterland of Perun, at the Lišnjak locality in Srinjine and the Gračić hill in Žrnovnica. Along the Vilar valley leads the Diocletian's Road, considered to be a continuation of a prehistoric local road and its connection to the broader Salona area.

Hill forts, mounds, and sanctuaries

On some Illyrian forts and fortifications, scattered along the entire Perun ridge, in the 7th and 8th centuries Croatian settlers established their sanctuaries. They named them, like the hill itself, after the gods to who they dedicated them. After their conversion to Christianity, churches were erected in these places, dedicated to the saints who replaced those gods. In Perun, there are two churches dedicated to St. George (Sv. Jure), one at Perunsko and the other at Vršina.

The divine battle

The central motive of the old faith was the conflict between the gods Perun and Veles. Perun was honoured on Perunsko, whereas Veles was recognized in the Snake Rock (Zmijski kamen) by the river. This "divine battle," which annually re-established order in the world, found its Christian interpretation in the legend of St. George killing the dragon. St. George, the patron saint of Poljica, is honoured in the church at Vršina on 3 May, and in the church at Perunsko on 23 April.