A pearl in the rocky desert

Few parts of the world are marked with restless times to such extent as the Balkans in its full geographical entirety. Blaca Hermitage on the island of Brač is a consequence of these frequent conflicts and uncertainty.

Photo by www.otok-brac.info

What made Mila Gojsalić, a young and beautiful girl from Poljica, enter one of the Ottoman camps in 1530, reach the powder magazine and  blew herself up together with the whole camp?

Poljica, an area in the hinterland of Split on the right bank of Cetina, one of the most beautiful Mediterranean rivers, has, since the end of the 13th century had a special status. The Statute of Poljica, one of the first Croatian legal documents, the Constitution of the Republic of Poljica, was the basis for the freedom of peasants and small feudal lords from their counts and higher authorities. Freedom based on common law was threatened by the Ottoman conquests.