The Church of St. Nicholas (Rakotule)

St. Nicholas' Church is situated in the local graveyard, about a kilometre away from the Parish Church in the northwest direction. The location of this ancient church among cypresses and surrounded by a stone wall, with the view extending over the wide Mirna Valley, will surely stir your emotions. The church was built in the 14th century with its front side extended in the 15th century. Both construction phases were marked by a coat of arms of the aristocratic Barbo family featuring a lion rampant and a bend. This widely branched aristocratic family had numerous estates in Istria and provided many church dignitaries, a captain and a Pope – Paul II (1446). It is no wonder that this small village could afford to hire excellent artists to paint the interior of the churches. Based on the few preserved fragments, the experts have concluded that the authors were most probably two Italian painters influenced by Giotto. The preserved frescoes represent Maiestas domini (Lord-in-Majesty) and scenes from the legend about St. Nicolas: Saint's Birth, St. Nicholas uproots Artemis' Tree and The Golden Legend. The latter describes the benefaction of the Saint who tossed a bag of gold through an open window into the house of an impoverished man to provide his daughters with a dowry. An unknown person inscribed over the painted plaster in glagolithic script the following text: Give me a few coins, Nick, for God's sake! (Daj meni niki so (l) din, Miko, tako ti Boga!)