 Blato: (4.093 inhabitants) is situated in the middle of the island on the main island road, 40 km from Korcula. This is a traditional agricultiral centre and the centre of all agricultural products of the island. Surrounded by fertile fields and rich woodland, early agricultural cultivation was flourishing here as early as greek and Roman times already (Potirna and Znjan). Archeological finds witness to the existence of a settlement in Blato in the prehistoric and Illyrian times. The prehistoric inhabitiant of Blato was a shepherd, hunter and fisherman. Several early Christian churches were built in Blato and around it. The most significant among them is the church of St. Cosmas and Damian from the 6th century. All this confirms the continuity of human life in Blato from the Neolithic to the present day. Blato also has been the most densely populated part of the island. Numerous families were not only living in Blato itself but also had possessions 12 km away from Blato. These families would come to Blato only for the most important events, such as marriages and funerals, as they had all other facilities, even schools, near their domains away from Blato. Some of these now deserted hamlets like Brnistrova or Gumanci are very interesting for those fascinated by life in the past.
The biggest public building in Blato today is the school, in whose cellars the huge cisterns of Blato wine are stored. The parish church of All Saints occupies the most prominent spot in Blato. It is a three-aisled church built in 1350, and reconstructed in its present form in 1672, when the bell-tower next to the church was built. The present loggia was also built at that time replacing an older one from 1496 witch was pulled down. In the church itself, there is the main altar of marble, the work of the Baroque artist Petar Pavle Bertapella (1763-1817), and the valuable All Saint painting on it, painted by the Venetian artist Girolamo da Santacroce in 1540. The church boasts a rich collection of silver, among which there are Venetian crosses from the 18th century. Saint Vicenza has been worshiped in Blato as its patron saint since 1795, and her relics are in the parish church.
Blato enjoyed its greatest prosperity in the 19th century at the time of an unique demand for wine. It was also a time of political emancipation which materialized in the foundation of the commune of Blato. The terrible phylloxera vine disease hit Dalmatia at the beginning of the 20th century. The population of Blato was halved through emigration as a result, so that now more Blato people live in Australia than in Blato itself. Photos of the arrival of special emigration ships in the ports of Prigradica and Vela Luka have been preserved. They took the emigrants on board and landed them in Australia, New Zealand and Brasil.
A wonderful avenue of lime-trees lines the road through the middle of the town; its is more than one kilometre long. At the beginning of summer, every passerby along this avenue becomes aware of why the Croatian name for June is Lipanj (it is the month when the lime-tree /lipa/ flourishes). The football stadium is also in the middle of the town, as well as a park with public buildings, a small hotel Lipa, the post office and the bus station. The sword dance and battle Kumpanjija is still performed on the original main square in front of the church of All Saints. the heritage of folklore of Blato is very rich and its inhabitants are pleased to demonstrate it to tourists, especially on the feast of Saint Vicenza (28.04). Althrough Blato did not built defend walls, it is possible to note old blocks of dwelling houses forming small closed areas of defence. The ethnographic museum is set in a fortified house - kastel Arneri. Walks through and around Blato are full of interest and the best view of the town itself and its surroundings stretches from the road leading from the town towards the south coast to the bays of Grscica and Prizba.
This road passes through steep terraced vineyards, which have never been resuscitated after the devastation of phylloxera. They represent today a monument to the hard-working people of Blato. The first picturesque bay is Grscica, and then Prizba - a settlement of villas and houses for hire whitch extends, untypically, along several kilometres of the coastline. The Alfir hotel is situated in the middle of Prizba near the picturesque small peninsula of Ratak. The modern turist settlement Priscapac with sub aqua sports facilities lies at the extremity of Prizba. There is only 2 km from there to Brna. The green uninhabited islands that lie in front of Grscica and Prizba are suitable for excursions and for fishing by local people and tourists. Their names are: Kosor, Stupa, Crklica, Sridnjak and Vrhovnjak. A second road from Blato leads to the next two areas of Blato, on the south coast of the island. The name Karbuni (Coals) speaks of the tradition of preparing charcoal and pitch in this region. It is also known as one of the safest anchorages for small boats in the Korcula archipelago. A group of beautiful islands with pleasant beaches lie in front of these places: Zvirinovik, Trstenik, Prznjak Veli, Prznjak Mali and others. There are a few summer houses of belonging to local people on Veli Prznjak.
Still another road leads from Blato to the north coast of the island and the hamlets of Prigradica, Rasoha and Babina. Prigradica was built in the 19th century as an exporting port for Blatos wine and oil, and today it is an attractive tourist resort. The very picturesque village of Rasoha and Babina are some kilometres away from Prigradica. Their inhabitants were occupied with agriculture, wood-cutting and salting fish. The artistic tradition of Blato is continued by the contemporary painters: Natasa Cetinic, Ante Sardelic and Frano Franulovic, who has an atelier/gallery in Blato. The road from Blato towards Vela Luka - 7 km - passes the edge of the biggest field on the island - Blatsko polje. A greater part of this field was under water for part of each year until 1912, when a tunnel was dug (2175 meters) as far as the bay of Bristva and the field was dried out. The mediaval custom of dividing up the land in this field are very interesting. Each family had to have a piece of good and a piece of bad land. The only underground sources of drinking water on the island of Korcula can be found here.
General info:
BLATO, a town in the interior of the island of Korcula (4-odd km from the coast), 7 km southeast of Vela Luka; population 4,093. It lies on the eastern edge of the Blato field. Economy is based on farming (Mediterranean crops). The chief arable land is the Blato field, which has been dried (water has been taken into the Bristva Cove by a tunnel). Most of it is under vineyards. Blato is the econ-omic centre of the island, located on the regional road Korcula - Vela Luka.
Remains of the Junianum estate date back to Roman times. The oldest structures are the graveyard church of the Holy Cross and the church of St. Jerome, built in Romanesque-Gothic styles (14th c.). The mediaeval parish church of All Saints was extended in the 17th century (by stone-masons from Korcula). It features marble altars. At the beginning of the 18th century a classicist chapel of St. Vicenza was built, with the saint's luxuriant tomb. The altarpieces (All Saints and Madonna with Child), painted on wood, are works by the Renaissance master Girolamo da Santacroce. The old loggia, mentioned as early as the 15th century, was replaced by a new one, made in 1700 by a Korcula stone-mason, Spaso Foretic>. The Renaissance-Baroque citadel of the Arneric family houses the Town Museum. Several Baroque mansions of Korcula noblemen are especially interesting within the complexes of folk architecture. In Zablace, west of Blato, is an interesting one-nave church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian from the 12th century. Several small mediaeval churches in the surroundings are mentioned also: St. Mary in Polje (1338), St. Martin in Mala Krtinja (around 1346) and St. Michael in Dugi Pod (1346).
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