The Parish church of St. Roch (Rakotule)

The Parish of Rakotule is mentioned for the first time in 1580 and the church was most probably built during that period. It was a period of frequent epidemics of plague and cholera in Istria and there is no wonder that the inhabitants of Rakotule chose St. Roch, invoked to protect from plague, as their patron saint. From that time the church was extended and annexed on a number of occasions and the new façade, built from stone from Močitad, was applied in 1934. On the wall of the old Sacristy there is a niche decorated in relief and carrying the year 1560, which implies that the church is even older. Another confirmation of the old age is the still visible vault of the Romanesque apse. This original church was painted with frescoes, whose fragment was discovered during works in the church interior in 1958. It was detached together with a layer of plaster, transferred onto canvas and fixed. It is today kept in the Diocesan Museum in Poreč. Next to the church stands a 22-meter tall bell tower.