Cunski, a small village on the island of Losinj



 
Cunski, a small sunlit village sheltered from the bura, is located on the gentle slopes of a hill on the island of Losinj, with a view of the western shores of Kvarner bay. However, the present village is no longer the original old settlement which evolved from a fort dating back to ancient times.
The exact year is not recorded, but during the 16th century the old church of St. Nicholas was built, then enlarged in 1784, in appearance very similar to the St. Mary Magdalena church in Nerezine. It was pulled down in order to build a simple, single-nave church with a rectangular sanctuary in 1908, which is still there today, with the campanile added in 1923. Unfortunately, there is very little left of the original lavish artistic interior decorations.
The main road below Cunski branches off leading to the Losinj airfield, situated amongst the fields. As the land here is very fertile, and the sea rich with fish, the area was populated as early as the Bronze Age, and during Roman times there were numerous villas, villae rusticae, along the shores. Ruins of one are still recognizable in the Studiencic bay, together with the remains of a sarcophagus. An old built-up fountain, the primary necessity for survival, also still exists there.
cunski

cunski


 

Cunski


 

Photographs: Sandro Volaric
Text summarized from "Apsyrtides" by Branko Fucic
Map from What's on Kvarner, 1999



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